There has been some concern in the Oregon DD Services community over a clause of K Plan (the new funding and service delivery model for DD services being implemented by Oregon DHS), designed to minimize Conflicts of Interest, which has been interpreted to mean that Legal Guardians cannot also be paid Caregivers. But there is now some hope!

Oregon DHS has announced (as reported by the Oregonian) that CMS is working with them on a workaround to allow Legal Guardians to provide paid support services under specific circumstances. The details are still being worked out between Oregon DHS and CMS.

Here is a copy of the tentative announcement sent out by the Director of ODDS:

August 16, 2013

To: DHS Office of Developmental Disabilities Services Stakeholders and Staff

Message from ODDS Director Patrice Botsford

We have good news.

Today our federal partner, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) informed Oregon that guardians can be paid to provide care to their loved ones with the right processes in place.

We are working quickly with CMS to clarify those processes and to develop a new notice for beneficiaries, but we wanted to share this information with you as soon as possible. When those details are worked out, we will provide you with an update and more information about next steps.

Thank you for your patience as we have been working through this difficult issue. We know that this issue is important and that the uncertainty about how we are moving forward is stressful for families and their loved ones.

We appreciate the care and concern we have heard these past weeks, and we remain committed to providing you with the most up-to-date, accurate information that we have.

~ Patrice Botsford

Director, DHS Office of Developmental Disabilities Services