DDD Communication | February 26, 2025

IN 02/26/2025 COMMUNICATION:

  • Governor's Introduced Budget FY26
  • Draft Information Bulletins Posted
  • FY26 Notice of Funding Opportunities
  • Medication Administration Changes
  • ICAP/HRST updates (01/01/2025)
  • DoIT Notification: MOBIUS Report Error
  • EVV Training Opportunity
  • Cancer Prevention Month
  • Final Information Bulletins Posted

GOVERNOR'S INTRODUCED BUDGET FY26

On Wednesday February 19, 2025, Governor JB Pritzker announced budget proposal for Fiscal Year (FY) 26 (July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026). Find slideshow from the announcement here: Budget Proposal Slides. The Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) line items include:

  • $31.2 million to annualize FY25 waiver placements and fund new waiver placements under the Ligas Consent Decree.
  • $20 million for Direct Service Professional (DSP) hourly wage increases of $0.50 beginning January 1, 2026, with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approval.
  • $17.5 million for 5 percent increase the Home-Based Adults with DD waiver program.
  • $9.7 million to adjust for the SSI increase of 2.5% for people served through the Home and Community-Based Waiver.
  • $5 million for a Re-integration Program incentive to provide up to $50,000 per resident for CILA providers upon their move from SODCs to the community-based group homes over a two-year period.

Please contact the Division with questions by emailing DHS.DDDComments@illinois.gov with "FY26 Introduced Budget in the subject line."

DRAFT INFORMATION BULLETINS (IB) POSTED

  1. Non-Insulin Injectable Treatments via Pre-Filled Pen or Auto-Injector
    1. Please review this DRAFT IB here: DRAFT - Non-Insulin Injectable Treatments IB
  2. Competency-Based Training and Assessment for Rule 116
    1. Please review this DRAFT IB here: DRAFT - CBTA for Rule 116

Please submit comments on the above DRAFT IBs by email to DHS.DDDComments@illinois.gov on or before March 12, 2025. Please include the title of the DRAFT IB in your email subject line when providing comments.

For a list of all Draft IBs, click here: Draft Information Bulletins.

FY26 NOFOs POSTED AND MORE FORTHCOMING

This a friendly reminder that DDD posted three FY26 Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. You can see the previous communication here: FY26 Notice of Funding Opportunities Posted. DDD will be posting additional FY26 NOFOs very soon. The forthcoming NOFOs that will be posted include:

  • Dental Program
  • Epilepsy Program

DDD's FY26 NOFO website is located here: Developmental Disabilities Grants - FY 2026. NOFOs are posted on the Illinois Catalog of State Financial Assistance website. Please contact DHS.DDDGrantProg@illinois.gov if you have any questions about FY26 NOFOs.

MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION CHANGES

As discussed in prior communication, legislative changes were passed that impacts Rule 116. Legislation can be read here: Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of Public Act 103-0890. Effective immediately, non-insulin injectable treatments via pre-filled pens and auto-injectors use to treat diabetes and obesity are allowed in settings governed by Rule 116. Additionally, there have been changes to the required training of authorized direct support professionals (ADSP). Associated forms and trainings are in development; for access to these, please email DHS.ClinicalServices@illinois.gov with questions.

Interim guidance: Draft Information Bulletins have been posted to provide interim guidance until Rule 116 can be updated to integrate the legislative changes.

ICAP/HRST SCORE CONCERNS

Community Integrated Living Arrangement (CILA) rates have been updated to incorporate the most recent Inventory for Client Planning and Agency Planning (ICAP) and Health Risk Screening Tool (HRST) scores. The Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) will allow until Friday, March 14, 2025, for providers to reach out with scoring concerns. PLEASE NOTE: Changes will only be made in cases where there was a clear and documentable error or omission made by Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) or the Independent Service Coordination (ISC). This is not an opportunity for providers to simply request a change in score.

  • For ICAP: Providers must work with the appropriate ISC agency to determine if an ICAP score is incorrect. If the Independent Service Coordination (ISC) Agency agrees that an incorrect ICAP score was submitted, they should notify DDD.
  • For HRST: Providers must work with IntellectAbility to determine if an HRST score is incorrect. If IntellectAbility agrees that and incorrect HRST score was submitted, they should notify DDD.

Any questions/concerns submitted to either the ISC or IntellectAbility after March 14, 2025, will be denied. Those changes will not be entered until the next reporting period.

DOIT NOTIFICATION: MOBIUS REPORT ERROR

An error has surfaced in our Remittance Reports potentially dating back to reports generated after 2/5/2025.

This issue presents when a Rate Adjustment is applied to a historic bill, resulting in an erroneous full total at revised rate being displayed under Amount Paid, versus correctly listing the actual billing difference between previously paid and current total under Amount Paid. When this condition is present, this report's aggregate amount would not reflect the actual voucher amounts correctly issued. Just to emphasize, the voucher amount is correct.

Proposed resolution is in process with issue to be fixed by 2/28, for this week's Remittance Report.

Please send questions to DHS.DDDComments@illinois.gov with "Remittance Reports Error for Rate Adjustment to a Historic Bill" in the subject line.

EVV TRAINING OPPORTUNITY FOR SELF DIRECTED ASSISTANTS AND HBS FAMILIES

ACES$ will be offering online training opportunities regarding Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) requirements for Personal Support Workers (PSW), Self-Directed Assistance Providers (SDA), and Self-Directed families. The next live webinar training is scheduled for Thursday, March 6th at 1:00pm.

Registration can be found here: Registration

DDD would like to encourage SDA Providers to attend these webinar trainings and/or review previously recorded trainings.

NATIONAL CANCER PREVENTION MONTH - FEBRUARY 2025

Cancer Awareness month is a chance to educate and inform our community about the preventable causes of death that are related to cancer diagnoses. In the United States, many of the greatest reductions in cancer morbidity and mortality have been achieved through the implementation of effective public education and policy initiatives. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is delivering lifesaving research to millions of patients and family members as they live with, through, and beyond their diagnosis.

Call to action: Prevent yourself and your loved ones from becoming a contributor to the increased cancer diagnoses statistics. Review available vaccines, consider environmental factors that contribute to cancerous disease (examples include smoking, excess body weight, physical inactivity, and excessive exposure to the sun), and review your lifestyle choices for optimal overall wellbeing. Consider getting screened early and often based on your doctor's recommendations for your demographic.

FINAL INFORMATION BULLETINS POSTED

The Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) has posted the below FINAL Information Bulletin (IB).

Please see all Final Information Bulletins and all Draft Information Bulletins. Questions on IBs can be directed to DHS.DDDComments@illinois.gov. Please include the name of the Information Bulletin in the subject line.

The information contained herein should not be considered a substitute for the appropriate official statutes, rules, regulations, or the advice of legal counsel.

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