MAHONING CO. MRDD Agency to consider layoffs

Budget cuts will affect MRDD agencies all over Ohio.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Changes in federal reimbursements for services will cost the Mahoning County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities about $3 million a year beginning in 2006.
As a result, the agency could be forced to lay off employees, said Larry Duck, MRDD superintendent. Exactly how many hasn't been determined.
Involved is the Community Alternative Funding Program, which reimburses MRDD for services provided to MRDD clients on welfare. The federal government wants the services provided to all Medicaid eligible people, not just those with MRDD.
The CAFS program reimburses 60 percent of the local agency's expenses for helping clients in three areas: transportation; active treatment, which is largely adult day care; and professional services, which could include services such as physical therapy, psychology or nursing. It is the loss of reimbursement in the first two that causes the most problems for MRDD agencies, because the professional services are provided by contractors, not employees, Duck said.
The 12-year-old Ohio CAFS program serves adults and children eligible for Ohio's programs for those with MRDD needs. The Ohio MRDD system receives $1.25 million in CAFS funding. MRDD boards put up the 40 percent matching funds, and the Medicaid program provides 60 percent federal matching funds.
Eligibility problems
The federal Medicaid agency said Ohio's CAFS program was out of compliance because it limited services to disabled students and people eligible for MRDD programs. As a Medicaid entitlement program, all people eligible for Medicaid would have access to the CAFS-funded program. That would have meant an additional 1 million people, Duck said. The federal government said that Ohio had to expand the CAFS program to all eligible Medicaid recipients or it would stop providing federal matching funds by June 30.
Because the state didn't change its program, the funding will end, Duck said.
The funding loss is the largest single loss of funds that the MRDD has faced, said Duck.
Duck said that over the next 60 days, the board of directors and administrators will assess the financial impact of the decision. The administrative staff will then identify the areas where cutbacks in nonmandated services and staff positions could be made.
The Trumbull County MRDD board is in similar straits, according to Douglas Burkhardt, superintendent. He said the CAFS reimbursement cuts would cost his agency about $2.8 million. Burkhardt said no decisions have been made on how to make up that loss.
A spokeswoman at the Columbiana County MRDD said they haven't decided how to make up for the cut, which for that agency would total about $900,000.