Andrew Whalen, a 31 year-old Rhode Islander on the autism spectrum, applied for support services in the wake of his mother’s death in January. He’s still waiting to hear whether he is eligible.
When a psychologist interviewed him Nov. 16, she said the state’s Division of Developmental Disabilities was backed up addressing cases involved in a federal consent decree and that his application was “not an emergency,” Whalen said.
Last week, one of his sisters took him to the Department of Human Services (DHS) to check on the separate application he filed two months ago for food stamps. He said he learned that the state’s new $364 million computer system had deleted his records and the only way he could remedy the problem was to file for benefits all over again.
Whalen represents adults with developmental disabilities on the Employment First Task Force, created by a 2014 federal consent decree as a bridge between the state and the community as Rhode Island moves to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Under terms of the consent decree, Rhode Island must move away from segregated sheltered workshops and day programs toward supported employment in the community and integrated non-work activities over a ten-year period.
Whalen explained his plight Tuesday, Dec. 13, to his colleagues on the task force at a meeting in Warwick, and to the federal court monitor in the consent decree case, who was listening via conference call.
The monitor, Charles Moseley, wanted to know how many applicants for adult developmental disability services might be affected by the computerized Unified Health Infrastructure Project. UHIP, as it is known, is supposed to process all the state’s social service benefits, including the Medicaid money used for developmental disability services.
Sue Donovan of the Rhode Island Parent Information Network (RIPIN) ventured an estimate – about 100 – but asked Moseley to confirm figures with the state.
RIPIN works with families of high school students with developmental disabilities who are making the transition to adult services. Donovan said she knows of one person who was authorized by BHDDH to start receiving developmental disability supports September 1, but the Medicaid funding didn’t actually didn’t actually clear UHIP until Monday, Dec. 12.
Donovan said there are 23 young adults who have been deemed eligible for developmental disability services who are waiting for their funding to come through.
In addition, about 83 young people are expected to be found eligible and are “heading for the same problem,” she said.
“I’m sure the Division (of Developmental Disabilities) has a better idea of those numbers,” Donovan said.
“I will look into that,” Moseley said.
“It’s a shame. It’s a disgrace,” Donovan said of the situation.
State Says It Is Monitoring Flow of DD Benefits
On Wednesday, Dec.14, a spokeswoman for Jennifer Wood, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, said that “we are individually monitoring the services received by every DD (developmental disabilities) client who has been determined eligible for Medicaid services to ensure that their Medicaid coverage is working correctly." She did not offer any figures on those who might be affected by the UHIP problems.
“BHDDH social workers are also always available to their clients if they are experiencing any issues with any of the benefits they are receiving,” the spokeswoman said.
Developmental disability officials have publicly acknowledged in recent months that even without a crisis like UHIP, social workers have a hard time keeping up with the needs of clients in their care. The average caseload for each social worker is 205, according to Jane Gallivan, a developmental disabilities consultant to the state.
Rhode Island has been under a federal court order to see to it that individuals with developmental disabilities receive eligibility decisions and begin services in a timely manner after they complete high school.
In response to the order, the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) has said that at the end of September, it cleared a backlog of applications that earlier in the year had numbered about 250.
BHSSH also established strict timelines for responding to applicants going forward, determining within 30 days whether they were eligible, needed to submit additional written information, or needed to schedule an interview.
Whalen’s experience – he waited 10 months to be interviewed by the psychologist – raises new questions about how strictly BHDDH is following its new eligibility timelines, not only for high school students moving to adult services, but for applicants of all ages and circumstances.
If BHDDH isn’t meeting its timelines because of UHIP, Donovan said, maybe the judge in the consent decree case, John J. McConnell, Jr. of U.S. District Court, can do something to “help move the state to get this DHS system corrected.”
Wood’s spokeswoman declined to address Whalen’s situation publicly, citing confidentiality laws. She insisted that BHDDH is working within court-approved time frames to determine eligibility.
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed its own class action lawsuit against the state in U.S. District Court in the last week over the UHIP troubles with a focus on the food stamp program, saying the denial of benefits puts thousands of households “at imminent risk of going hungry as a result of being denied needed assistance to help them feed their families.”