The process by which to measure the State of Illinois' compliance with the Ligas Consent Decree has been a topic of discussion between the Ligas parties and Court Monitor for the past several months. The Parties and Monitor have come to an agreement on the review process, surveyor credentials, and compliance evaluation instruments. This message is to provide you with additional details about that process.
Most stakeholders within the Illinois' developmental disabilities community will recall that the Ligas v. Hamos lawsuit was filed in 2005 on behalf of adults with developmental disabilities living in private, state-funded Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (ICFs/DD) who wished to move to community-based services or settings and on behalf of adults with developmental disabilities living at home who want community-based services. The Ligas v. Hamos Consent Decree was approved by the Court on June 15, 2011 and has served to guide changes to Medicaid Home and Community Based Services waiver processes for the past several years. (For more information, see Overview of the Ligas Consent Decree.) The most recent Ligas Implementation Plan requires an evaluation of services provided to Ligas class members who currently reside in community integrated living arrangements (CILA). A summary of that evaluation process is provided below.
- A representative sample of approximately 275 Ligas class members who are receiving CILA services will be reviewed.
- A total of 12 surveyors will conduct the reviews. The surveyors consist of a combination of staff selected by the Ligas court monitor, staff from CQL (The Council on Quality and Leadership), and staff from the Division's Bureau of Quality Management. All surveyors received training required by the Ligas Court Monitor.
- A comprehensive review instrument has been developed and approved by the court monitor. Reviews will include a face-to-face meeting with the individual, visits to the CILA and other waiver program sites frequented by the individual, record review, guardian interviews, and CILA staff interviews. A copy of the survey instrument is attached.
- On-site visits will begin in April 2019 and continue through December 2019. The date of the on-site visits will be shared with the guardian, the individual, provider agencies, and the ISC prior to arrival of the surveyors.
- Prior to the on-site visit, the ISC and provider agencies will be asked to provide a number of documents to the surveyors including personal plans, implementation strategies, data, assessments, and documentation of services provided.
The information gathered by the surveyors will be compiled by the court monitor and used to evaluate the overall quality of services provided to Ligas class members. The results will be used to assess compliance with the consent decree and to identify if changes are needed to the current service system.
As additional information about the compliance review process and results is available, it will be shared on the Illinois Department of Human Services' website here: Ligas Information
Please direct questions regarding Ligas activities, including the compliance review process, to Andrea Medley, Ligas Coordinator, by phone at 217-524-2520 or email Andrea.Medley@illinois.gov. In addition, you may also contact the Ligas Court Monitor, Ronnie Cohn, at ligas.monitor@gmail.com with questions regarding the compliance review process.
