And Magical It Was! Our 1st Annual #AdvocacyDays was held in Orlando the end of September at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and was nothing sort of spectacular. We had 460 self-advocates, caregivers, parents, and leadership in attendance over the three-day conference. Rep. Allision Tant and keynote speaker Christopher Littlefield kicked off Friday night’s dinner session followed by the most AWESOMEST Dance Party! Saturday’s session featured a Self-Advocate Panel Discussion with Jackie Applebaum (the Self-Advocate Board Member for The Arc of Florida), Zack Gottsagen and Matthew Walzer. Afterwards, our group painted the park purple at the Magic Kingdom® until dark!
We couldn’t have done it without the support from our sponsors: ABLE United, Children’s Medical Services Health Plan (operated by Sunshine Health), Community Assisted & Supported Living (CASL), The Florida Certified Board, Florida Home Health Equipment & Supplies, Florida Insurance Trust, Hanley Foundation, Kaye Kendrick Enterprises, Park Shore Pharmacon, and Therap. We can’t wait to see you next year!
Provider Survey Results. The Arc of Florida and The Florida Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (FARF) small and medium providers deliver services and supports to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) under the Medicaid Home and Community Based Waiver, administered by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD). For years, these providers have struggled to maintain staffing due to the cost of living increases and entry level wages outpaced by other providers in Florida communities. APD was funded two years ago by the Legislature to increase entry level wages to $15/hour for Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). This funding created pay scale compression within provider agencies at the same time wages in the community continued to increase and administrative requirements escalated significantly. The Arc of Florida and FARF jointly surveyed our provider agencies regarding the challenges faced in maintaining their current level of services, increasing expenses. We received responses from around 34% of providers surveyed.
  • 38% of providers have reduced services this year, often as a result of not being able to recruit staff or not receiving referrals from APD.
  • 28% of providers are considering further reductions next year.
  • 83% average increase in liability insurance over the past five years, ranging from 11% to 400%.
  • 36.5% average increase in personnel costs for employee health benefits.
  • 76% of providers could not afford to give pay increases this year since there was no rate increase.
  • 9.5% average overtime cost to provider payrolls; payroll accounts for an average 70% of provider costs.
  • 93% of providers noted that the rate increase provided two years ago by APD not sufficient to cover the costs of ongoing operations. Most reported using charitable contributions, earned income and reserve funds to continue business, along with reductions. Providers noted projected operating losses for FY 24-25.
  • 34% of providers identified Adult Day Training (ADT) as the most difficult service to maintain. Others included:
  • Group homes and Supported Living
  • Personal Supports
  • Transportation
  • Supported Employment
Initiatives to improve services to those with I/DD:
  • rate increases are critical
  • development of an indexing system tied to inflation
  • inclusion of rate increases in the APD legislative budget request
  • use of the revenue estimating conference 
Thank you for your advocacy! If you want additional information regarding this issues, please contact our CEO Alan Abramowitz at alan@arcflorida.org or 850.241.3232.