Common use of Provider Capacity Clause in Contracts

Provider Capacity. 1. The State, including BHDDH and ORS, will ensure that it supports and maintains a sufficient capacity to deliver Supported Employment and Integrated Day Services to individuals in the Rhode Island Sheltered Workshop, Rhode Island Day Program, and Rhode Island Youth Exit Target Populations, including qualified supported employment providers and integrated day providers, consistent with the terms of this Consent Decree. 2. The State, including BHDDH and ORS, will ensure that the supported employment providers and/or integrated day providers have a sufficient array of trained staff, adequate staff supervision, appropriate policies and procedures, a quality improvement program, and the capacity to deliver Supported Employment and Integrated Day Services consistent with the terms of this Consent Decree. 3. By September 1, 2014, the State, including BHDDH and ORS, will establish, implement, and enforce pre-qualification requirements for all Supported Employment and Integrated Day Services providers that supply services to individuals in the Rhode Island Sheltered Workshop, Rhode Island Day Program, and Rhode Island Youth Exit Target Populations, consistent with the terms of this Consent Decree. 4. Effective upon signing this Consent Decree, the State will be responsible for creating incentives to encourage the transition of individuals from sheltered workshops, facility- based day program settings, and Rhode Island secondary schools to integrated employment and integrated day settings that meet the definitions and standards of Sections V(D)-(E). The State will implement these incentives through public-private partnerships with persons with I/DD, family members, employers, employment providers, community organizations, and additionally by other means that are approved by the Monitor. 5. The State will provide monitoring, oversight, and technical assistance to ensure supported employment providers use evidence-based employment practices, have adequate staffing, organizational support and supervision, and use effective business models to meet the goals and outcomes of this Consent Decree. The State will develop and publicize its oversight process and provide mechanisms for individuals with I/DD, their families, service providers, and advocates to file complaints which will be timely addressed by the State. 6. The State will require the supported employment provider(s) used to transition individuals with I/DD from Rhode Island sheltered workshop and facility-based day service providers into Supported Employment Placements to: a. Identify and promote Supported Employment Placements in state and federal agencies and in private industry on a statewide basis; and b. Develop relationships with public and private employers based on the benefits to businesses of hiring people with disabilities. 7. By July 1, 2015, the State will establish public and private sector initiatives to support the integrated employment of individuals in the Target Populations. 8. By July 1, 2015, the State will develop procedures to require provider staff to assist in the transition of individuals from Rhode Island sheltered workshop settings and facility- based day settings to Supported Employment Services and Placements. The procedures will provide incentives and support to qualified providers of sheltered workshop services upon the effective date of this Consent Decree to begin to convert their employment programs to Supported Employment Services so that the providers’ services are converted primarily to Supported Employment Services once the terms and conditions of this Consent Decree are met, at the expiration of this Consent Decree. 9. By October 1, 2014, the State will establish a Sheltered Workshop Conversion Institute. The Parties have jointly selected the Xxxx X. Xxxxxxxx Center on Disabilities at Rhode Island College to administer the Sheltered Workshop Conversion Institute. The Sheltered Workshop Conversion Institute will be designed to assist qualified providers of sheltered workshop services to convert their employment programs to include Supported Employment Services. The Sheltered Workshop Conversion Institute will provide individual analysis, technical assistance, and support to each qualified provider of sheltered workshop services, and will work together with the technical assistance entities discussed in Section XII, to support individual providers in a process of conversion and transformation of service options. The Sheltered Workshop Conversion Institute shall operate based on authority and under guidelines that are mutually agreed upon by the Parties and the Monitor by no later than October 1, 2014. 10. By October 1, 2014, the State, including BHDDH and ORS, will establish and begin distributing a Sheltered Workshop Conversion Trust Fund in the amount of $800,000, to provide upfront start-up costs to providers that have agreed to convert their services from primarily sheltered employment to primarily Supported Employment Services. The Sheltered Workshop Conversion Trust Fund will be administered by the Director of DHS (“Sheltered Workshop Trust Fund Administrator”) or her/his designee, the Associate Director of ORS, and the funds appropriated shall only be used by qualified sheltered workshop providers for the initial costs associated with converting from a primarily facility-based service model to an integrated service model. Among the qualifications to become eligible for start-up funds from the Sheltered Workshop Conversion Trust Fund, a provider must: a. Receive ongoing technical assistance and guidance from the Sheltered Workshop Conversion Institute, set forth in Section XI(9); and b. Submit a detailed Conversion Plan to the Sheltered Workshop Trust Fund administrator, including budgetary projections, and multi-year projections for the number of service recipients to be served by the provider in the sheltered workshop, in segregated group enclaves, and in integrated employment settings, and the number of service recipients per year transitioned to integrated employment settings meeting the standards set forth in Sections V(D)(1)-(4) of this Consent Decree. To be approved, at minimum, a Conversion Plan must specify the critical steps that the provider will take to ensure that its services will be converted to meet the standards for integration set forth in this Consent Decree. 11. If any service gaps or obstacles are identified through the process set forth in Section XV, the Monitor may recommend the necessary actions to remedy these gaps and address these obstacles, including increasing the number of trained and qualified vocational rehabilitation counselors, transition specialists, job developers, job coaches, benefits counselors, job placement specialists, case managers, youth service professionals, and other community employment professionals, in order to allow for successful transition of individuals with I/DD in Rhode Island sheltered workshops, facility-based day programs, and individuals exiting Rhode Island secondary schools to integrated employment and integrated day settings and to ensure the full implementation of the goals and outcomes of this Consent Decree.