Public hearings on the 2010 State Plan were scheduled on May 21, 2009 simultaneously at the Bangor CareerCenter and at the Department of Labor conference room in Augusta. These hearings were linked through Bureau of Rehabilitation Services and Department of Labor polycom system. Legal advertisements for the Public Hearings were posted in the in the Kennebec Journal, Bangor Daily News and Portland Press Herald for three days ten days prior to the hearings. The ad notice with a web link to the State Plan and Needs Assessment were also emailed to a variety of stakeholders including Bureau of Rehabilitation (BRS) Joint Leadership Committee whose membership includes the chairs and co-chairs of the councils working with BRS and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. In addition, a draft of the state plan was posted on the Bureau of Rehabilitation’s website, 10 days prior to the hearings under the “What’s New Section” in both document and rich text formats, this announcement included the hearing time and places.
(c) Summary of Input and Recommendations of the State Rehabilitation Council:
The Maine State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) provides input to the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) State Plan in several ways. There is a joint SRC-DVR Policy Committee that meets regularly to discuss procedural and policy issues within DVR. A function for Council members involved in that committee is to provide input into the development of the annual state plan. When this group met on April 9, 2009, on the agenda was the comprehensive needs assessment and the draft state plan. At that time, council members provided input on the needs assessment and discussed the need for gathering consumer input during the first year of the plan. The consumer input and the needs assessment itself should begin in the first year of the three year timeframe.
The public hearings for the State Plan were held in conjunction with the SRC meeting on May. No other stakeholders to the VR program spoke or submitted comments regarding the State Plan. Council members submitted additional comments to the Chair. Based on that input, the Council would like to make the following recommendations to DVR for inclusion into the 2010 State Plan:
Attachment 4.10 CSPD:
Regarding the Executive Order issued by the Governor to support the hiring of qualified individuals with disabilities, it is not known how successful the program is working. The council recommends a report on how the program is working be provided on a quarterly basis. Research needs to be done on this topic. Regarding graduate education as it pertains to VR counselors, the availability of training options is scarce. The council reiterates the importance of researching options for providing higher education training.
Attachment 4.11(b) Annual Estimates
The attachment states that 399 clients not in either Order of Selection (OOS) Category 1 or Category 2 are presently on the DVR wait list. Being as the state agency has exclusively served individuals in Category #1 for many years, the Council requests to know how long the 399 clients have been on the Wait List. Have there been attempts to contact the clients to determine if they are employed? Have these clients been provided information and referral services?
The above attachment states that “At present, Maine DVR has no way of identifying cost by OOS priority category.” Being as approximately 95% of clients served in DVR are assigned to OOS Category #1, the Council wonders why this is significant.
The attachment states that for FFY 2010, “One hundred percent of those expected to be served will be classified in OOS as either category #1, or category #2.” Later in the same section, the attachment states that “Maine does not anticipate the ability to serve Category 2 in FFY 2010.” These statements are contradictory and need to be revised.
Attachment 4.11(c)(1) State Goals and Priorities:
The attachment discusses DVR’s initiative to eliminate the wait list and provide the “right services at the right time.” The Council is fully supportive of eliminating the long wait for services. The attachment also identifies the 4 “Interface Points”, including “Exiting the VR System.” The Client Assistance Program representative to the SRC has informed the Council of the use of the “Clear and Convincing Standard” to close DVR Cases. The Council requests data on the number of cases closed this way in the past 5 years.
The attachment identifies DVR’s Goals for 2010-2012. The Council is fully supportive of all the goals mentioned, especially providing services in a timely manner. However, the council makes the recommendation that there be an additional goal. We feel the state agency should revisit the council’s role in consumer satisfaction. The council desires a more proactive role in partnership with VR in the development of gathering and evaluating consumer input.
Attachment 4.11(c)(3)Order of Services
This section states that “the expenditures for transportation services have dropped over 43% in the FY 06 to FY 08 period.” The Council would like the agency to perform an analysis and provide a report why the significant reduction in transportation services has occurred.
The agency is also reporting significant reductions in Maintenance (79%) and Rehabilitation Technology (60%) during the same time period. The Council feels it would be important for the agency to understand why these reductions are occurring. Are the reductions having an impact on successful employment outcomes?
Attachment 4.11(e)(2) Evaluation and Reports of Progress – Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and Supported Employment (SE) Goals:
For the past few years the SRC’s committee on “Increasing Employment Opportunities for Individuals with Mental Illness” focused on employment outcomes. It had been estimated that less than 6% of those served by the Office of Adult Mental Service were employed and of those employed few were working full-time. Over the past few years programs have been put in place that demonstrate that employment is seen as an achievable goal for an increasing number of those served by the Office of Adult Mental Health Services. The SRC recommends that VR join with the Office of Adult Mental Services to expand supported employment opportunities for individuals with mental illness and develop innovative strategies to assure that success on a part-time supported employment can lead to career oriented full time work.
This concludes our comments to the FY 2010 DVR State Plan. We would like to commend the Division for the quality Plan they have produced and thank you to Division for the opportunity to provide input.
DVR Response:
Attachment 4.10 CSPD
Regarding the Executive Order issued by the Governor to support the hiring of qualified individuals with disabilities, it is not known how successful the program is working.
Discussion between the Bureau of Human Resources and DVR’s Rehabilitation Consultant who works with both the Community Rehabilitation Providers and Employment Networks has been initiated. She will be available to meet with the SRC to give updates and discuss their reporting request.
Regarding graduate education as it pertains to VR counselors, the availability of training options is scarce.
DVR wants to assure the SRC it too wants qualified staff and will continue to research educational options and graduate training resources for its staff.
Attachment 4.11(b) Annual Estimates
In reference the statement of “the 399 clients not in either Order of Selection (OOS) Category 1 or Category 2”. Have there been attempts to contact the clients to determine if they are employed? Have these clients been provided information and referral services?
These individuals were in applicant status at the close of FY 2008 and part of the 11,113 served that year. They had not yet been found eligible, had an OOS category assigned or been placed on the Wait list.
As part of its plan to eliminate the Waitlist, DVR willing be contacting all clients on the waitlist to determine their employment status and their desire to continue with DVR.
DVR provides information and referral to all clients when determined eligible and placed on a wait list. New procedures are being developed for periodic check-in with clients on the wait list to determine current need for VR assistance and awareness of Information & Referral resources.
This statement about DVR being unable to identify expenditures by OOS category was included in the report format because RSA requested the expenditure data be separated by category and the DVR information system is unable produce the information as requested.
The perceived contradictory statements between of serving OOS Categories 1 & 2 in FY 2009 and then the later statement of projecting only serving Category 1 in FY 2010. The first statement refers to the individuals already receiving services under plans, including some in category 2 who were receiving services under an IPE when the present Order of Selection was implemented the latter to clients coming off the wait list.
Attachment 4.11(c)(1) State Goals and Priorities:
Concerning the SRC for data on the number of cases closed using “Clear and Convincing Standard” in the past 5 years.
DVR will meet with the DVR-SRC Policy committee and discuss the data parameters requested for this report. This will be a special data request from the Systems Improvement and Quality Assurance (SIQA) Division.
The council desires a more proactive role in partnership with VR in the development of gathering and evaluating consumer input.
DVR has contracted with a nationally renowned firm to conduct Customer Satisfaction surveys on 2003, 2006, 2008. This enables a trend analysis over a 5 year period. Each year the SRC was invited to create agency specific questions for ME DVR. The instrument has been used in VT, NH and MA as well as ME allowing for geographic peer comparisons. The results of the 2008 consumer satisfaction are one of the key consumer feedback elements in the 2009 comprehensive statewide needs survey that helped identify the primary state plan goals. DVR will discuss additional program improvement strategies identified in the 2008 survey further with the SRC.
Attachment 4.11(c)(3)Order of Selection
The Council would like the agency to perform an analysis and provide a report why the significant reduction in transportation services has occurred.
The reduction in transportation and maintenance services over the past three years can be attributed to a renewed focus on DVR’s Core Mission of attaining and maintaining employment. Procedural Directives on both these service areas were reviewed with the SRC. This has made more case service funds available to reduce the waitlist.
The Council would like the agency to perform an analysis and provide a report why the significant reduction in transportation services has occurred.
The change in Rehabilitation Technology services was a combination of coding and the occasional purchase of very expensive AT equipment in a single fiscal year i.e. van modifications. The coding issue has been corrected in FY 09, involving IT, SIQA and field staff developing definitions and state with training.
Attachment 4.11(e)(2) Evaluation and Reports of Progress – Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) and Supported Employment (SE) Goals:
The SRC recommends that VR join with the Office of Adult Mental Services to expand supported employment opportunities for individuals with mental illness and develop innovative strategies to assure that success on a part-time supported employment can lead to career oriented full time work.
DVR appreciates the SRC’s support in building a partnership with the Office of Adult Mental Health Service through the SRC’s Committee on Increasing Employment Opportunities for Individuals with Mental Illness. The Statewide Needs Assessment confirms that the DVR has not been as successful in serving this population as individuals with other disabilities. As a result DVR is including the following strategy “DVR will establish an innovation and expansion initiative with the Office of Adult Mental Health Service to increase supported employment options for individuals with mental illness with a focus on full time employment” under Goal # 1.
The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation appreciates the time taken by the SRC members and the SRC-Policy sub committee for their help in soliciting feedback and developing comments on the DVR 2010 State Plan.