Federal rule disrupts service to those with disabilities

To The Daily Sun,

Recently, Governor Chris Sununu asked our congressional delegation to support New Hampshire’s request for granting individual waivers to a federal rule, which eliminates the option for individuals with intellectual disabilities or acquired brain disorders, and their families, to receive all of their services from a single provider agency.

Up to now, New Hampshire’s regulations have enabled people to choose their own providers based on their unique needs, situations, and preferences. While some have opted to receive their services from multiple agencies, many have selected a single qualified provider agency to furnish their services.

As parents and family members, we are at a loss as to why the federal government is ripping away from us our right to choose our own providers. We have requested the supporting data which would justify this mandate. However, we have NOT been given any specific information or data. In fact, CMS has ignored our request for any study data that would demonstrate a problem of quality or cost effectiveness with the single provider agency arrangements which has supported our children and family members for years..

Since the 1980s, family participation in New Hampshire’s community-based regional system has resulted in development of a responsive and innovative service system, with checks and balances to protect and preserve individual choice. From being the first state in the nation to close its institution to offering of consumer directed services, New Hampshire has made sensible decisions and provided service options based on the preferences of individuals and families. Sadly, this federal rule is disrupting and preoccupying New Hampshire’s service system at a time when the State’s and agencies’ focus and efforts should be directed toward addressing the more critical and urgent issue of recruitment and retention of staff and providers.

Governor Sununu captured it well when he stated in his letter to our Congressional delegation that: “New Hampshire regulations have long enabled individuals in need of services to make decisions regarding their services and to choose their providers based on their individual needs, situation, and preferences. In doing so, many have chosen to receive all of their services from the same agency. This approach has worked and enabled them to address issues efficiently.”

We represent hundreds of individuals and families who worry about the future of their supports, especially when the choices they have been making for years are cast aside by bureaucratic one-size-fits-all regulations.

There is an old expression among New Hampshire’s families: “Nothing about us without us!” We appeal to our elected officials: Please do not let New Hampshire’s longstanding tradition of providing individual and family choice be lost. I stand ready to work with you in partnership to make this change. This is about our family members’ lives; we need your help!

Gary Lemay

Meredith