Update: Louisiana Department of Health eliminates waiting list for those with developmental disabilities

~~“Nearly a year after eliminating its 25-year-old waiting list for specialized services, the Louisiana Department of Health’s Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities is receiving positive feedback from those served by the Tiered Waiver plan.
Tiered Waiver prioritizes individuals with a greater urgency of need for receiving the most appropriate home and community-based services, rather than the Office’s prior approach of offering services on a first-come, first-served basis.
Julie Foster Hagan, assistant secretary of the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities, said more than 12,000 people have received a Screening for Urgency of Need (SUN), using a nationally accepted best practice model, to determine the urgency of their need for waiver services. There are five levels of need, or tiers:
• 4-Emergent: Supports will be needed in the next 90 days.
• 3-Urgent: Supports will be needed in the next 3-12 months.
• 2-Critical: Supports will be needed in the next 1-2 years.
• 1-Planning: Supports will be needed in the next 3-5 years.
• 0-Currently no unmet needs."