Director’s Column

Thank you, APD Employees!

By Director Barbara Palmer

The first week in May is Public Service Recognition Week which makes it a great time to say Thank You to Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) employees who continue to go above and beyond in all they do.  APD has the best employees in state government.  I know that because we recently pulled together a list of all the achievements over the past five years.  My heart swelled with pride thinking about the hard work that went into moving this agency forward.  Of course, our customers, stakeholders, providers, waver support coordinators, Family Care Councils, and many more contributed to APD’s success.

Here are a few major achievements from the past five years: APD eliminated a projected $120 million waiver deficit for State Fiscal year 2010-2011 and the waiver was in the black in 2013-2014. APD implemented the iBudget Florida Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Medicaid waiver to offer service flexibility to APD customers.  APD has received more than $100 million from the Legislature to offer waiting list to waiver enrollment to more than 5,000 people. Additionally, the agency has worked with more than 500 people with developmental disabilities to prepare them for the job market. They were provided on-the-job training, internships, and for those that landed a permanent job—supported employment services. APD, along with the Family Care Councils, hosted 16 Town Hall meetings to gather input on ways to improve services in the future.

Achievements from 2015 include APD enrolled 839 individuals on the iBudget waiver through crisis. Since July 2015, 88 individuals who were active in the community-based foster care system have been enrolled on the waiver. Also, the Consumer-Directed Care Plus (CDC+) program saw its biggest year of growth in 2015. CDC+ enrolled 346 new participants, an average of 28 consumers per month, to bring the total number of APD consumers self-directing their supports and services to 2,402. Florida became the first state to implement a process for military portability for Home and Community-Based Waiver services. APD enrolled 12 individuals onto the waiver whose families are active-duty military and were receiving services in other states prior to transfer to Florida.

We are expecting continued success in the coming year because APD funding priorities were included in the 2016-2017 state budget, and I thank Governor Scott and the Legislature for supporting APD.

Thank you to APD employees and all the others who are working hard every day to help people with developmental disabilities be successful in their communities.