Big Lakes announces CEO transition; agency warns of state policy changes and long waiver waiting list

An unidentified outgoing executive of Big Lakes told Riley County commissioners on March 24 that she plans to retire and that Liz Holly, the agency's deputy operations officer, will become the next CEO effective June 1.

The speaker reported a statewide waiting list for developmental disability waivers of 4,426 as of March 13 and said the average wait time is nine years. She said a new "community support waiver" would offer limited, capped assistance (she cited a $20,000 cap) intended to provide smaller amounts of support for people who do not require the comprehensive waiver.

Nut graf: Big Lakes used its appearance to announce an internal leadership change and to flag potential state-level policy and funding changes at the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) that could affect local services and budgets. The agency is also tracking proposed legislative and administrative changes to day services, a new assessment tool and conflict-of-interest questions about the Community Developmental Disability Organization (CDDO) role.

The outgoing executive said the state is working on three initiatives at KDADS that worry providers: splitting day services into multiple categories that would be billed separately, implementing a new assessment tool, and addressing conflict-of-interest rules that could affect entities that currently serve as CDDOs.

"As of March 13, it's 4,426. That's actually up a 42 from the last time I was here," the outgoing executive said when describing the statewide waiver waiting list. She said the new community support waiver is capped at $20,000 and is intended to provide smaller amounts of assistance to reduce the waiting list.

Liz Holly, identified in the meeting as deputy operations officer and the incoming CEO, said providers are concerned that KDADS is considering splitting the current broad definition of day services into seven distinct categories. "Now they are looking to separate them into 7 different definitions for day services," Holly said. She described potential administrative and billing complexity if services are defined and billed in multiple categories.

The outgoing executive and Holly said the agency has been engaging with lawmakers and KDADS, and that there had been some legislative movement: she said an additional $4,900,000 was added on the Senate side to address waiting-list funding and that the Senate included a 3.4% rate increase while the House had not yet matched that provision.

The speaker said the Big Lakes board asked the outgoing executive to continue as a consultant through the end of the year to support the leadership transition and to help navigate finance and budget uncertainties.

Ending: The agency said it would return to provide updates in May as legislative work continues; commissioners did not take formal action at the meeting beyond receiving the report and acknowledging the CEO transition.