CMS Action to Expand Community-based Options Cited as First Major Move in Decades Supporting People with Disabilities

Advocates Call for Acceleration of Effort Due to Disproportionate Mortality Rates
of People with Developmental Disabilities due to the Pandemic

PRINCETON, NJ – Nov. 30, 2020 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has
issued a 66-page toolkit designed to encourage and help states rebalance long-term care
offerings for people with disabilities to favor home- and community-based services over large
institutions.

In New Jersey, 1,701 persons with disabilities remain in state-run institutions, while another
7,918 are housed in nursing homes. Living in these crowded settings makes them particularly
vulnerable to COVID-19 as the pandemic surges.

This is the first substantial movement by CMS or any state agency in decades to address the
unnecessary housing of people with developmental disabilities in large congregate care
facilities. This includes housing people in state-run institutions and the practice of placing
individuals under 50 years old in large nursing homes. Advocates note that movement in this
direction was expected more than 20 years ago with the Supreme Court’s “Olmstead” decision
in 1999. To date, fewer than 15 states have abolished state-funded large facilities in favor of
community-based programs.

“I commend CMS for encouraging the depopulation of large, congregate care institutions in
favor of community-based housing programs. This comes at a crucial time as we have seen the
devastation that the pandemic has had on people with disabilities living in large institutional
settings,” stated Robert Stack, President and CEO of Community Options. The organization,
which is based in Princeton, NJ provides housing and employment support for people with
disabilities throughout 10 states. “It’s time for states to finally abandon the practice of
warehousing people with disabilities”

Alarmingly, the nonprofit FAIR Health just released a report finding that people with
intellectual and developmental disabilities are three times more likely to die of COVID-19,
compared to the general population. That information had to be gathered from the group’s
own national data base of private health insurance, given the lack of federal and state statistics
for facilities other than nursing homes.

CMS Tool Kit

“While the CMS action is a good step, the horrendous experience of this community during the
pandemic underscores the need for a greater sense of urgency,” added Stack. “We need an
accelerated timetable for the depopulation of these outdated, human warehouses.”

“For the past 40 years, advocates have raised concerns about the negative impact of
warehousing people with disabilities in large institutions. Now this outdated form of care
literally is costing lives,” stated Stack. “And the irony that this is occurring on the heels of the
20 th anniversary of the Olmstead decision is not lost on this community.”

The Olmstead decision in 1999 by the Supreme Court construed Title II of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) to require states to place qualified individuals with mental disabilities in
community settings, rather than in institutions, whenever treatment professionals determine
that such placement is appropriate. Yet, after 20 years, only a few states have moved to comply
with that decision.

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About Community Options, Inc.:
For over 30 years, Community Options has developed housing and employment supports for people with
disabilities – supporting thousands of people from over 40 offices across 10 states. Community Options provides advocacy assistance to empower people with disabilities because all people – regardless of ability level – should live and work in the community with dignity, choice and self-determination. For more information please visit our website: www.comop.org and to follow along with the #AllItTakes campaign, search #AllItTakes on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.