ODDS director outlines Oregon home- and community-based services, waivers and work ahead

The Oregon Office of Developmental Disability Services (ODDS) on Feb. 6 gave the Senate Committee on Human Services a broad informational briefing on Medicaid-funded home- and community-based services (HCBS), eligibility criteria, historical shifts away from institutional care and current implementation priorities.

"We currently serve approximately 38,000 individuals across the state of Oregon with intellectual and developmental disabilities," Dana Hittle, interim director of ODDS, told the committee. Hittle said roughly 25,000 of those individuals are adults and about 12,500 are children; about 28,000 receive services beyond case management. The data she cited were current as of January 2025.

Hittle reviewed the history and legal framework for HCBS, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's Olmstead decision and the 2014 HCBS Settings Rule, and described Oregon's long-term shift from large institutions to community-based settings. She said Oregon was an early adopter of the 1915(c) waiver and later implemented the 1915(k) Community First Choice (the "K plan"), which expanded access to in-home services and carries a higher federal match.