Bridging the Aging and Developmental Disabilities Service ... - rrtcadd

When the ADRC was implemented under the previous administration it was
not conceptually well thought out.
• ADRCs are a process not a center. ADRCs were initially conceptualized as single points of
entry for long term supports and services for people with disabilities who are aging and
people aging into disability. ADRCs were reconceptualized as the “No Wrong Door”
approach because each population has unique needs and is oriented towards different
philosophies of service. Consequently, each ADRC partner agency is autonomous and
operates largely as “business as usual”.
• Branding for ADRCs has never been uniformly established or implemented, which results
in confusion for staff and consumers.
The ADRC program has been operating for eight years with limited
collaboration between the aging and DD networks.
• AoA envisioned the national ADRC network eventually would serve all people with
disabilities. However, AoA has not supported partnering with the DD network as the ADRCs
expanded nationally. Less than half (42%) of the 365 local ADRCs served people with
developmental disabilities during the six month period ending March 31, 2011. By
comparison, 213 ADRCs partner with Centers for Independent Living (CILs), and CILs are
the lead agencies at 93 of these locations (NCIL, 2011). Nine out of ten people with
developmental disabilities that the ADRCs served were concentrated in just six states.
• Funding announcements for grant applications to expand and enhance ADRCs do not
require, or even suggest, that awards be used to include individuals with developmental
disabilities as a target population, even though RFPs specify that “Grantees are required to
serve adults 60 years of age and older and at least one other target population of younger
individuals with disabilities in at least one community at all income levels.” 47
• AoA does not include the imagery of people with developmental disabilities on ADRC
brochures and websites to demonstrate that ADRCs serve this population. Figure A, from
Georgia’s ADRC brochure, is an example of how imagery can be used to convey that
ADRCs serve people with developmental disabilities.
• There is a predisposition for AAAs to collaborate with CILs because both primarily serve
people with physical and sensory disabilities. CMS is encouraging states to use the same
functional assessment tool across populations and some states serve both older adults and
younger adults with physical disabilities under the same 1915 “c” Medicaid waiver.
Bridging the Aging and Developmental Disabilities Service Networks Page 42