Advocacy

We Fight to Protect the rights of adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) Across the U.S.

TEXAS
One of the most critical issues in Texas now is the state-set wage rate for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) who are the paid staff that make it possible for adults with IDD to live as independently as possible in the community. The current rate set by the state is $10.60 per hour which is unworkable. A large and growing coalition of DSPs, providers, families, and self-advocates are fighting to raise the wage rate equal to what workers are paid in State Supported Living Centers (SSLCs) which is $17.71 per hour. Read more below about our efforts.

• Time to Care Texas is a coalition of community organizations and advocates committed to securing competitive wages for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) in Texas who are caregivers for Texans with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). Click and read these helpful explainers:

  • What is IDD [PDF]

  • DSP Workforce Crisis in Texas Explained [PDF]

  • Day in the Life of a DSP in Texas [PDF}

  • Myths vs Facts About DSPs in Texas [PDF]

• Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute. TCCRI was founded in 1996 by conservative leaders determined to implement conservative public policies in state government. TCCRI has distinguished itself as a leading state-based think tank and has been very successful in living up to its mission of shaping public policy through a principled approach to government. [Source: https://www.txccri.org/]

  • Policy Recommendation #1: Immediately increase the base wage for DSPs at IDD community-based group homes to make it equal to that for DSPs at state-supported living centers. Any appropriation for this purpose should be contingent on the appropriated funds being used for that purpose, with any provider who fails to comply with established accountability measures being subject to recoupment.

  • Policy Recommendation #2: Direct HHSC to improve its data collection with respect to IDD community-based group homes, as well as the display of that data.

  • White Paper: Examining the Critical Need for a Rate Increase to IDD Community-Based Providers [PDF]

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE NOW

• Get Notified! Visit This Page often or get on our Email List for Updates. Email molson@ltoventures.org to get on our email list.

• Questions or comments, contact Mark Olson, President & CEO of LTO Ventures; molson@ltoventures.org; (702) 353-6540

BACKGROUND: THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HOW WAIVERS WORK (OR DON’T) IN TEXAS

1. Adults with IDD in Texas often need residential assistance from Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) paid with Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waivers to help them to live as independently as possible in a home or community-based setting. Adults with IDD apply to use waiver funds to pay for the supports they need, and the waiver funds can only be used in Medicaid-eligible settings.

2. In Texas, the Home and Community-based Services program can provide 24-hour residential assistance for people with IDD or related conditions to live in these Medicaid-eligible settings: a group home where no more than four people receiving services live; a host home or companion care setting, their own home or their family’s home. For many adults with IDD these are their preferred settings.

3. Many other adults with IDD, however, would prefer a different type of setting such as a farmstead, intentional community, or campus setting where they can enjoy a supportive community comprised largely of their peers. There are more than 300 intentional or planned communities for adults with IDD around the US, and about a dozen existing or planned in Texas.

4. The disability community is very diverse. One size does not fit all. Adults with IDD want the right to live in the setting and manner they choose from the broadest range of options available.

5. Paid residential assistance can be very costly for most adults with IDD. Medicaid HCBS waivers are the financial safety net that pay for those supports based on the needs and desires of the adult with IDD. The rules for how waivers can be used are governed at a federal level by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

6. Each state then uses the CMS rules to create waivers to address the needs of the disability community in their state. In Texas those waivers are: 1) Home and Community Services (HCS); 2) Texas Home Living (TxHmL); 3) Community Living Assistance and Support Services (CLASS); and, 4) Deaf Blind with Multiple Disabilities (DBMD). Did you know that some 350,000 Texans with disabilities are on an Interest List to receive waiver funding? Did you know that an adult with IDD may have to wait 18 years or more to receive HCS waiver funding they need to live as independently as possible in the community?

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