posted
by Maghan Bowman on Saturday, August 3, 2024
Our friends at American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) have released a new Advocacy Toolkit to help step up your summer advocacy efforts! This resource provides the tools you need to engage effectively with the lawmakers who currently represent you, as well as those who aspire to do so by winning your vote in upcoming elections.
In this Advocacy Toolkit, you’ll find practical guidance on how to:
You'll also find ways to effectively communicate the top advocacy priorities:
Why is the Disability Community Act necessary?
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently finalized a rule (Overtime Rule) that will have a significant impact on Medicaid-funded disability providers.
Community-based providers support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) to live in their homes and communities through services funded through the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) program.
Decades of underinvestment in the Medicaid HCBS program have left the community-based provider network fragile and unable to incur new expenses without limiting access to services. An ongoing direct support workforce crisis has already forced many providers to close services or turn away new referrals. Because community-based providers are reliant on Medicaid funding, they cannot adjust to increased costs of service delivery without additional funding. Increased federal funding is necessary to enable Medicaid-funded providers to meet the cost of compliance with the overtime rule and other regulations that significantly impact the delivery of HCBS.
This legislation would authorize a Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increase for states for three years to help community-based providers address the cost of compliance with the overtime rule. The additional federal funding will allow providers to secure the benefits of this regulation for their workforce.
Why Support a New SOC for DSPs?
Currently, "Direct Support Professional" is not recognized at the federal level because it does not have a unique Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code for DSPs.
SOCs are used to collect data and help all levels of government (local, state, federal) identify employment trends. DSPs are often inaccurately and inconsistently incorporated into a variety of SOCs which do not capture their full spectrum of work activities. A SOC for DSPs will enable state and federal agencies to collect data on the high turnover rate of DSPs and inform policies to address the workforce shortage. This legislation has no cost. The Congressional Budget Office has given this bill a score of zero.
Congress can help by supporting the bipartisan Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act (S. 1332/ H.R. 2941), which requires the Office of Management and Budget to consider the creation of a separate category within the Standard Occupational Classification system for DSPs.
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