Empowered FuturesIndependent Facilitation

024 service code

The service code regional centers use to pay for a Person-Centered Plan written by an outside planner.

099 service code

Self-Directed Supports. The service code regional centers use to pay an independent facilitator for help getting into the Self-Determination Program, before the budget starts.

Individual budget also: certified budget

The amount of money available for a person’s SDP services for one year. The regional center starts from what it spent on that person’s services over the last twelve months, then adjusts it for unmet needs or a change in circumstances. The IPP team certifies it.

Budget year

The twelve months an individual budget covers, counted from the SDP start date. A new budget is developed each year.

Bill Payer FMS model

An FMS model where the FMS pays providers’ invoices from the budget. Nobody is hired as an employee under this model.

Change in circumstances

Something in the person’s life that changes what they need, such as a move, a new diagnosis or leaving school. It is one of the reasons a budget can be adjusted.

CDER Client Development Evaluation Report

A standard form regional centers use to record a person’s diagnosis and abilities. It is part of the regional center record.

Co-Employer FMS model

An FMS model where the FMS is the legal employer of the staff the participant hires, and the participant directs their day-to-day work. The FMS handles payroll, taxes and workers’ compensation.

DDS Department of Developmental Services

The California state department that oversees the 21 regional centers and the Self-Determination Program, and sets many service rates.

Employer burden

The cost of employing someone on top of their wage: payroll taxes and, in most cases, workers’ compensation. It is paid from the budget, so a spending plan has to cover it. The spending plan calculator works it out.

Fair hearing

The formal process for disagreeing with a regional center decision. The Notice of Action explains the rights and deadlines that apply.

FMS Financial Management Service

The organization that pays providers and staff from the SDP budget, keeps track of spending and sends monthly statements. Every SDP participant must use one. Its monthly fee is paid by the regional center, outside the individual budget. Compare FMS options.

Generic resources

Services that are available from other public agencies, such as Medi-Cal, IHSS, schools or county programs. The regional center expects these to be used first, before it pays for a similar service.

HCBS Home and Community-Based Services

Services that support people to live in their own homes and communities instead of institutions, funded in part by federal Medicaid.

HCBS Settings Rule

A federal rule that services paid with HCBS funds must happen in settings that support full access to the wider community. SDP services must meet it. The HCBS activity finder lists compliant programs in Orange County.

IEP Individualized Education Program

The school district’s plan for a student’s special education services. It is separate from the regional center’s IPP.

IHSS In-Home Supportive Services

A county program, funded through Medi-Cal, that pays for in-home help with personal care and household tasks. It is a generic resource and separate from the SDP budget.

Independent facilitator IF

A person the participant chooses to help plan, find and arrange services, and use the Self-Determination Program. Having one is optional. An independent facilitator cannot also be providing other services to the participant.

IPP Individual Program Plan

The regional center’s written plan for a person. It lists their goals and the services and supports to reach them. In SDP the IPP is still the plan, and the spending plan funds it.

Lanterman Act

The California law that gives people with developmental disabilities the right to services and supports, and created the regional center system.

Local Volunteer Advisory Committee LVAC

A committee at each regional center, made up mostly of participants and families, that reviews how the Self-Determination Program is working locally. Its meetings are open to the public.

Medi-Cal

California’s Medicaid program. Many regional center and SDP services are partly paid with federal Medicaid money.

NOA Notice of Action

A written notice from the regional center when it denies, reduces or ends a service, or changes eligibility. It explains the decision and the person’s appeal rights, with deadlines.

Ombudsperson Office of the Ombudsperson

An office at DDS that helps participants and families resolve problems with the Self-Determination Program and other regional center services.

Orientation

The free training everyone must complete before joining SDP, run over Zoom in two parts by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities. See the next dates.

Participant

The person with a developmental disability who is in the Self-Determination Program.

PCP Person-Centered Plan

A plan built around what matters to the person: their strengths, preferences, relationships and the life they want. It is the foundation for the SDP budget and spending plan. More about the PCP.

POS Purchase of Service

Money a regional center spends to buy a service for a person from a vendor. The last twelve months of POS spending is the starting point for the SDP budget.

Rate

What a service pays per hour, day or unit. DDS publishes rates by regional center. Look up a rate.

Regional center RC

One of 21 nonprofit agencies, under contract with DDS, that assess eligibility and coordinate and fund services for people with developmental disabilities. Which one serves you depends on where the person lives. Find yours.

SC Service coordinator

The person at the regional center assigned to a person’s case. Some centers say case manager or consumer services coordinator.

SCDD State Council on Developmental Disabilities

An independent state agency that advocates for people with developmental disabilities. It runs the SDP orientation.

SDP Self-Determination Program

A voluntary regional center program that gives people more choice and control over their services through an individual budget, a spending plan and an FMS. It has been open to everyone eligible for regional center services statewide since July 2021. What is SDP?

Service code and sub code

A number DDS uses to name each kind of service. The spending plan lists each service by its code.

Sole Employer FMS model

An FMS model where the participant, or their representative, is the legal employer of their staff. The FMS runs payroll, but the participant is responsible for workers’ compensation coverage.

Spending plan

The plan for how the individual budget will be spent over the year, line by line. It must fund the goals in the IPP and be approved before SDP starts. Check if it is on pace.

Traditional services

The usual way regional centers provide services, where the regional center chooses and pays vendors directly. They end the day before SDP starts.

Transition

The period between deciding to join SDP and the start date: orientation, the Person-Centered Plan, the budget, the FMS and the spending plan. See how long it usually takes.

UCI Unique Client Identifier

The ID number a regional center gives each person it serves. It appears on regional center letters and forms.

Unmet needs

Needs in the IPP that the person has not been receiving services for. They can be added when the budget is developed.

Vendor

A provider approved by a regional center to be paid for a service. SDP participants can also use providers who are not regional center vendors.

Workers’ compensation

Insurance that covers an employee who is hurt on the job. Whether the FMS holds the policy or the participant buys it depends on the FMS model.

No term matches that. Ask me and I will explain it.