Georgia officials propose prioritizing urgent needs in disability services

A key program aimed at helping individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities gain access to home care may be getting a refresh in 2026.

Officials at Georgia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities unveiled a series of proposals during a December board meeting aimed at restructuring the waiting list for a state-run Medicaid program that provides waivers to people with disabilities designed to keep them out of institutional settings. The waivers can be used to provide services like medical supplies, personal care assistants and emergency alert systems.

However, the proposals made to the board are just recommendations, and a timeline to move forward with the plan has not yet been set.

Georgia had over 7,800 people on a waiting list for waivers as of this past March, though the agency says not everyone who is on the list has an urgent need for services. Boosting state funding to provide services to more people has long been a perennial issue at the state Capitol, and there’s been a push in recent years to work toward ending the wait list entirely. 

Members of an advisory council dedicated to addressing the issue say the first step to revamping the program will be to identify which applicants have the most urgent needs so their applications can be prioritized.

“When I hear on the street that we’ve got 7,000 people on a planning list, everybody panics,” said Bruce Lindemann, who serves as the chair of the state’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Advisory Council. “We need to understand, first, what comprises that planning list.”

Under a new proposal, Georgia’s existing waiting list would be restructured into a three-tiered system that distinguishes between those with urgent needs, those who are expected to need services in the next one to five years and those who may need services even further in the future. The council also recommended that the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities create a new type of waiver for individuals with disabilities who don’t currently qualify for the New Option Waiver or Comprehensive Support Waiver Program, and implement a new assessment tool to improve data collection.

“Our charge is to ensure Georgia’s planning list assessment process is fair, accurate and aligned with national best practices, while remaining workable for DBHDD staff,” said Rita Young, the executive director of Participant Directed Advocates of Georgia, a nonprofit that supports individuals and families who participate in the two waiver programs.

Georgia leaders are also taking inspiration from states like Louisiana and Pennsylvania, which already have systems in place to prioritize waiver services based on the urgency of the applicant’s need.

D’Arcy Robb, the executive director of the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, expressed cautious optimism about the board’s recommendations.

“I think the key is really going to be the implementation,” she said. “It’s going to require an ongoing commitment from the state, and I think in order to be done well, DBHDD needs to continue having very serious input and shared decision-making power with people with disabilities, their families and with organizations.”

As the state grapples with the impact of Medicaid funding cuts under the federal budget reconciliation package, colloquially known as the “big, beautiful bill,” Robb said she hopes state leaders will ensure that Georgians with disabilities continue to have access to the services they need.

“The problem is that [the bill] makes such big cuts to Medicaid, states are going to have to make hard choices,” Robb said. “We want to make sure that our state leaders are aware of the many ways Medicaid touches the lives of people with [disabilities], and that those are not impacted.”

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

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