Good Morning,

My name is Marietta Cottingham. I am one of the Assistant Executive Directors of Serenity C&C, Inc. in Tidewater and Central Virginia. Our company provides Sponsored Residential Support to approximately one hundred-ten adults and children   We also provide Day support, Community Engagement, Out of Home Crisis Intervention and Applied Behavior Analysis.  We have other programs under development. am here today representing the Tidewater Area, members of the Virginia Sponsored Residential Provider Group. The Virginia Sponsored Residential Provider Group represents over 75 agencies which provide this professional residential service in integrated settings throughout the Commonwealth. This morning I want to comment briefly on the Proposed Rates.

Surveys by the Department of Justice and others have shown that individuals served in Sponsored Residential homes have more positive health and quality of life outcomes, are valuable and contributing members of the community, and that a large percentage of those receiving these services have exceptional medical or behavioral support needs. Over 80% of the individuals receiving Sponsored Residential Services need medical and/or behavioral.

Current rates are inadequate.  The numbers of Direct Support Professionals available for employment have declined significantly in recent years.  Unless rates enable Sponsored Providers to offer salaries competitive with other service models and competitive with state agencies who employ personnel with similar skills, the individuals who, are clearly benefitting from the Sponsored Residential model, will find no placements available in Sponsored Residential homes.

Sponsored Residential Providers (DSPs) are responsible for providing support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The reimbursement they receive must be sufficient to make this employment attractive and financially sustainable.

Nationally and across the commonwealth the cost of food, fuel, clothing, and shelter has increased between 16% and 20%.  Sponsored Residential Providers have to absorb these increases.  The proposed rates will not even bring the industry up to where it was two years ago in terms of real dollars.

The New Rates must recognize:

1. In the future rates must be adequate to enable the procurement of sufficient numbers of persons willing to become Sponsored Residential Support Providers with the means to hire additional staff (DSPs)

2. Sponsored Residential Support Providers hire and maintain staff. must follow the rules for hiring and training. They are subject to the rules established by the Department of Labor for their employees. Sponsors must increase pay to their staff when minimum wage goes up and compete with all other service models for Direct Support Professionals.

3. The stability of the person-centered, community connected nature of this Sponsored Residential Support provides efficient delivery of support services and effectively meets the requirements of the Department of Justice settlement. It also expands the opportunity for persons receiving services to establish community connections with persons who do not have disabilities.

4. The high percentage of individuals with important support needs met in Sponsored Residential services, the successes these individuals experience and their high level of community engagement.

The rate model proposed by Burns & Associates did not meet all of these criteria. The final rate model proposed an average increase of 16.2%, or 3.7% over the temporary 12.5% ARPA Rate that was approved by the Senate and House. This temporary increase runs out June 30 of this year. The Governor’s Budget did not include the total recommended rate through the rate study and proposes an average increase of 12.8% or .3% over the temporary ARPA Rate. We are requesting that at a minimum the rates for sponsored residential be increased by an average of 16.2% as recommended in the rate study completed by Burns & Associates.

Thank you for the opportunity to present this recommendation. It is my hope it will be followed.