Virginia Law

A. There shall be a current and accurate statewide waiting list, called the DD Waivers waiting list, for the DD Waivers. This waiting list shall be created and maintained by DBHDS, which shall update it no less than annually.

B. Individuals on this waiting list shall have (i) a diagnosis of developmental disability pursuant to § 37.2-100 of the Code of Virginia, (ii) a completed VIDES form, and (iii) a priority designation consistent with subsection D of this section.

C. Individuals who accompany parents or guardians deployed overseas for active duty U.S. military or Foreign Service assignment but retain Virginia residency shall remain on the statewide DD Waivers waiting list and be considered for DD Waivers slot assignment when they are within three months of returning to Virginia.

D. To be placed in one of the following prioritization levels, the support coordinator shall determine through inquiry of the individual and family/caregiver, as appropriate, and consideration of the information reflected in the individual's diagnosis and VIDES form, which priority category the individual meets. The individual shall be placed in the prioritization level that best describes his need for waiver services by meeting at least one criterion in the category:

1. Priority One shall include individuals who require a waiver service within one year and are determined to meet at least one of the following criteria:

a. An immediate jeopardy exists to the health and safety of the individual due to the unpaid primary caregiver having a chronic or long-term physical or psychiatric condition that currently significantly limits the ability of the primary caregiver to care for the individual; or there are no other unpaid caregivers available to provide supports;

b. There is immediate risk to the health or safety of the individual, primary caregiver, or other person living in the home due to either of the following conditions:

(1) The individual's behavior, presenting a risk to himself or others, cannot be effectively managed even with support coordinator-arranged generic or specialized supports; or

(2) There are physical care needs or medical needs that cannot be managed even with support coordinator-arranged generic or specialized supports;

c. The individual lives in an institutional setting and has a viable discharge plan; or

d. The individual is a young adult who is no longer eligible for IDEA services and has expressed a desire to live independently. After individuals attain 27 years of age, this criterion shall no longer apply.

2. Priority Two shall include individuals who will need a waiver service in one to five years and are determined to meet at least one of the following criteria:

a. The health and safety of the individual is likely to be in future jeopardy due to:

(1) The unpaid primary caregiver having a declining chronic or long-term physical or psychiatric condition that currently significantly limits his ability to care for the individual;

(2) There are currently no other unpaid caregivers available to provide supports; or

(3) The individual's skills are declining as a result of lack of supports;

b. The individual is at risk of losing employment supports;

c. The individual is at risk of losing current housing due to a lack of adequate supports and services; or

d. The individual has needs or desired outcomes that with adequate supports will result in a significantly improved quality of life.

3. Priority Three shall include individuals who will need a waiver slot in five years or longer as long as the current supports and services remain and have been determined to meet at least one of the following criteria:

a. The individual is receiving a service through another funding source that meets current needs;

b. The individual is not currently receiving a service but is likely to need a service in five or more years; or

c. The individual has needs or desired outcomes that with adequate supports will result in a significantly improved quality of life.

E. Waiver slots shall be assigned subject to available funding.

1. A Waiver Slot Assignment Committee (WSAC) is the impartial body of trained volunteers established for each locality or region with responsibility for recommending individuals eligible for a waiver slot according to their urgency of need. All WSACs shall be composed of community members who shall not be employees of a CSB or a private provider of either support coordination or waiver services and shall be knowledgeable and have experience in the developmental disabilities service system.

2. For FIS and CL waiver slots, individuals who are in the Priority One category who are determined to be most in need of supports at the time a slot is available shall be reviewed by an independent WSAC for the area in which the slot is available. The determination of which individuals in Priority One are to be reviewed by the WSAC is accomplished through completion by the support coordinator of the Critical Needs Summary-Step 1 Review Form (CNS), which assigns numeric ratings to various circumstances that are deemed to affect urgency of need. A Slot Assignment Review Form (SARF), also completed by the support coordinator, is given to the WSAC members for each individual in the review pool in order to provide the committee with information about the individuals' needs, current services, and DD Waiver services that would best meet their needs.

3. The individual who has the highest need as designated by the committee shall be recommended for the available waiver slot. DBHDS shall make the final determination for slot assignment and to the most appropriate waiver to address the assessed needs of the individual. FIS slots will be offered unless the individual demonstrates an immediate need for sponsored residential, group home residential, or support living which are only offered in the CL waiver.

3. For BI waiver slots, each of five regional WSACs composed of one representative from each existing WSAC within the region shall make assignment recommendations for BI waiver slots. If the number of individuals interested in a BI waiver slot with Priority One status for all CSBs in a region is less than the number of available slots, those individuals are assigned a slot without a regional WSAC session occurring. A regional WSAC session will then be held for the remainder of available slots, reviewing those individuals meeting criteria for Priority Two and then Priority Three.

F. If the individual determines at any time that he no longer wishes to be on the DD Waiver waiting list, he may contact his support coordinator to request removal from the waiting list. The support coordinator shall notify DBHDS so that the individual's name can be removed from the waiting list.

G. Eligibility criteria for emergency access to either the FIS, CL, or BI waiver.

1. Subject to available funding of waiver slots and a finding of eligibility under 12VAC30-122-50 and 12VAC30-122-60, individuals shall meet at least one of the emergency criteria of this subdivision to be eligible for immediate access to waiver services without consideration to the length of time they have been waiting to access services. The criteria shall be one of the following:

a. Child protective services has substantiated abuse or neglect against the primary caregiver and has removed the individual from the home; or for adults where (i) adult protective services has found that the individual needs and accepts protective services or (ii) abuse or neglect has not been founded, but corroborating information from other sources (agencies) indicate that there is an inherent risk present and there are no other caregivers available to provide support services to the individual.

b. Death of primary caregiver or lack of alternative caregiver coupled with the individual's inability to care for himself and endangerment to self or others without supports.

c. An individual who transitioned from one of the DD Waivers to the Medicaid Works program who chooses to resume DD Waiver services.

2. Requests for emergency slots shall be forwarded by the CSB or BHA to DBHDS.

a. Emergency slots may be assigned by DBHDS to individuals until the total number of available emergency slots statewide reaches 10% of the emergency slots funded for a given fiscal year, or a minimum of three slots. At that point, the next nonemergency waiver slot that becomes available at the CSB or BHA in receipt of an emergency slot shall be reassigned to the emergency slot pool to ensure emergency slots remain to be assigned to future emergencies within the Commonwealth's fiscal year.

b. Emergency slots shall also be set aside for those individuals meeting eligibility criteria and not on the DD Waivers waiting list but newly identified as meeting all eligibility criteria and in need of supports resulting from an emergent situation described in subdivision 1 of this subsection.

H. Reserve slots and the reserve waiting list.

1. Reserve slots may be used for transitioning an individual who, due to (i) a documented hanges change in his assessed support needs [, which requires a service that is not available in the DD Waiver in which the individual is presently enrolled or (ii) a preference for supports found in a waiver with a less comprehensive array of supports, requires and requests a move from the DD Waiver in which he is presently enrolled into another of the DD Waivers to access necessary services.

a. An individual who needs to transition between the DD Waivers shall not be placed on the DD Waivers waiting list.

. b. CSBs or BHAs shall document and notify DBHDS in writing when an individual meets the criteria in subdivision 1 b of this subsection within three business days of knowledge of need. The assignment of reserve slots shall be managed by DBHDS, which will maintain a chronological list of individuals in need of a reserve slot in the event that the reserve slot supply is exhausted. Within three business days of adding an individual's name to the reserve slot list, DBHDS shall advise the individual in writing that his name is on the reserve slot list and his chronological placement on the list.

c. Within three business days of receiving a request from an individual for a status update regarding his placement on the list, DBHDS shall advise the individual of his current chronological list number.

2. When a reserve slot becomes available and an individual is identified from the chronological list to access the slot, the support coordinator will assure to DBHDS that the service that warranted the transfer to the new waiver (e.g., group home residential) is (i) identified and (ii) a targeted date of service initiation is in place prior to the reserve slot assignment to the new waiver.

3. When an individual transitions to a new DD waiver using a reserve slot, the waiver slot vacated by that individual shall be offered to the next individual in that CSB's chronological queue for a reserve slot by DBHDS. If the individual chooses to accept the slot, DBHDS will assign in accordance with subdivision 2 of this subsection. The individual receiving that slot must initiate services with the service that made him eligible for the reserve waiting list within 60 calendar days. If he is unable to initiate those services, he will remain in the slot he currently occupies and may remain on the reserve slot waiting list until another slot becomes available.

4. If there is not an individual in that CSB's chronological queue for a reserve slot, the vacated slot will be assigned to an individual on the statewide waiting list who resides in the CSB's or BHA's catchment area by DBHDS after review and recommendations from the local WSAC.

5. When a slot is vacated in one of the DD Waivers (e.g., due to the death of an individual), the slot shall be assigned to the next individual in that CSB's chronological queue for a reserve slot in accordance with the procedures outlined in subdivision 3 of this subsection.

I. Individuals and family/caregivers shall have the right to appeal the application of the prioritization criteria, emergency criteria, or reserve criteria to their circumstances pursuant to 12VAC30-110. All notifications of appeal shall be submitted to DMAS.