Vermont Care Partners, DAs and SSAs tell Human Services committee crisis in IDD residential and crisis supports is acute

At a meeting of the Vermont House Committee on Human Services, representatives of Vermont Care Partners and regional designated agencies (DAs) and specialized service agencies (SSAs) described a strained system for intellectual and developmental disability services and urged careful planning as the state implements payment and case-management reforms.

Vermont Care Partners’ Amy Johnson, Vermont Care Partners director of government affairs, framed the presentation as an overview of DA and SSA roles and the services they provide across Vermont. "We're grounded in the philosophy of home and community based care," Johnson said, adding that agencies offer prevention through crisis services and support people in homes, schools and communities.

The presentation emphasized why the Home and Community Based Medicaid waiver matters. Delaney Nordin, executive director of Champlain Community Services, described the waiver as a federal-state blend created after Vermont closed institutional care: "the waiver is designed to meet all the other needs that no other programs are able to actually meet," Nordin…