Nebraska Adopts New Disability Assessment Tool; Some Beneficiaries See Reduced Services

After the Nebraska Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) adopted the interRAI disability assessments for its developmental disability waivers, about 7% of waiver beneficiaries, representing about 200 people, were assessed as not meeting the level of care needed for their previous services. In these cases, the person’s access to services is reduced, although the assessment results indicated a lower level of care than under the previous system. Previously, Nebraska determined the level of care with an assessment developed in-house and determined budgets with a tool that is no longer being updated, according to a state webpage with assessment statistics . . .