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I hope all of you are enjoying this holiday season and are spending quality time with your family, friends and loved ones.
As I near the 90-day mark of my tenure as CEO, I'd like to provide you with a few updates and resolutions for the coming year.
Staff Is Our Most Valuable Resource
One of my early priorities was to meet with staff at all levels throughout our network. What is abundantly clear, despite all the budgetary constraints facing the field, is that our staff remains as passionate, dedicated and committed as ever to the people we support. There are many positive and productive stories coming out of our programs each day, and I look forward to continuing to share some of them with you in the coming year. (In this issue, you can read how one individual we support secured her dream job at Old Navy.)
Enhancing Our Communications
Changes that impact our operations and finances occur constantly, and are often a result of government regulations that are out of our control. Some we share directly with you, and some you may hear from other sources. Regardless, our goal is to keep you abreast of all organization- and network-related changes that occur and to enhance the extent and timeliness of our communications to you over the course of the year.
One of the ways we intend to accomplish this, is through our soon to be launched, redesigned and user-friendly yai.org website. Improved navigation will make it easier to find all sorts of new content, including inspirational stories, information on our person-centered planning and person-directed services, and various resources geared toward intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (I/DD) professionals, families, and people we support.
Partnering with Families
Strengthening partnerships with families is another priority. I eagerly participated in the second ever meeting of YAI's Family Advisory Council (FAC), and after introducing myself, I engaged in open and meaningful dialogue on a variety of agency, network, and advocacy topics with the approximately 30 parents and siblings who were in attendance.
Listening Carefully
The families' comments reinforced for me how proud, yet concerned they are about whether agencies like ours will be able to continue to provide high quality care to their loved ones once mandatory enrollment into Medicaid managed care gets underway. Our families are very focused on finding ways to provide improved financial stability and job satisfaction to Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), who we all know are invaluable to our organization and field. (Read the remarks that FAC member Bernice Polinsky, whose son has lived in a YAI Long Island residence for over 13 years, presented at a Legislative breakfast in Long Island this fall.)
Advocacy is Critical and YAI Has a Voice
State budgets are taking shape in Albany and Trenton. I have been invited to Albany to attend Gov. Cuomo's New York State of the State message on Jan. 13, and will be attending receptions held later that day by the Majorities and Minorities of the Assembly and Senate, the Comptroller, and the Attorney General. In New York there are over 130,000 adults with disabilities receiving support through state and non-profit organizations like YAI. When you add their family members, friends and professionals who work with them, that number becomes vastly larger.
YAI has a voice, and it's incumbent upon us to use our scope and size to be as proactive as possible in our advocacy for people with disabilities to live the lives they want and achieve what's important to them. I will remain tireless in that effort.
A Promise to Families
I promised the FAC that we will do our best to work with them to ensure government understands their concerns and does a better job of clearly and consciously communicating exactly what the model will look like when we move from fee-for-service.
We will do our utmost to make sure that — if anything — the quality of care and supports we provide to our individuals continues to improve, and not diminish.
We must find ways to increase residential options for individuals for whom living at home will ultimately become untenable and make inroads in figuring out how to stay competitive in hiring and retaining staff.
Engaging with Trade Organizations
We recently enjoyed a visit from members of the American Network of Community Options and Resources' (ANCOR) executive team, who met with our expanded leadership team to discuss priorities and new initiatives at the federal level, including HCBS waiver and CMS' definition of "community," the changing Department of Labor language in the Overtime Exemption Rule, and other issues.
I joined several YAI staff members at the New York State Association of Community and Residential Agencies' (NYSACRA) recent annual leadership conference to hear from national and state experts on Medicaid Managed Care and its impact on long-term services and supports, value-based payments, staff recruitment and retention and many other I/DD relevant issues.
Self-advocates will join staff and family members during our lobbying days in Albany in a few months. Mark your calendars for NYSACRA's Legislative Days on Feb. 8 and 9, 2016, and the Interagency Council of Developmental Disabilities Agencies, Inc.'s (IAC) Lobbying Days on March 1 and 2, 2016. I will be joining other members of our leadership team at IAC for OPWDD Acting Commissioner Kerry Delaney's annual budget presentation on Jan. 28, 2016.
‘Better ... Together'
I told the FAC members, what I've already mentioned to staff throughout the network, and what I intend to mention to every government agency and official that I'm able to meet or appear before. Namely, that we are, and can be, Better … Together in each and every way. Government should intently listen to us, the people we support and their families before issuing any final decisions on exactly how managed care will look and what form it will take as we head in that direction.
Stay tuned for a positive, productive, and powerful 2016!
Best wishes to you and your family for a new year filled with peace, love and happiness.