It Is Really Time to Say Thank You

June 01, 2022

The following are the reports to be presented by Committee Staff today to the members of the House and Senate – I copied the links from the House committee website, but since this is the Conference Report, they will be identical.  Agreed to by all members of the committee with the exception of Senator Norment (who had “reservations.”)

Full Summary of Amendments to House Bill 29 (Adj for FY22)

Full Summary of Amendments to House Bill 30 (FY23-FY24)

These reports do not offer as much information as the “half sheets” we described before, but will give you the overall picture.  There are, of course nuances to all of it, but in general I think the depth and impact of the workforce crisis on the ability of providers to meet the needs was heard and was addressed.  

There is also an overriding theme of concern about the recent ability of DBHDS to manage the community system of care (a study to review administrative/organizational issues, transfer of rate setting to DMAS for DD Waivers, stepped up reporting on DOJ and tighter controls on carry-over funds, and denial of new positions in Central Office, etc); the new Commissioner may have been able to regain the GA’s trust, but they have acted on the information they had in hand.

Did we get everything?  Of course not!  But VNPP entered the Session with a single message  “We’re in trouble and we need help!”  It seems that message got through loud and clear!   Now we need to clean up the details, like the rates issue with TC, and begin to form our message for next year.  

It’s time to say “Thank you!”