Real Change News | Judge reinstates Adult Day Health Services

September 9, 2009
Vol: 16 No: 40

Short Takes

Judge reinstates Adult Day Health Services

by: Cydney Gillis , Staff Reporter

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State lawmakers thought they were going to save $20 million by cutting a program that provides nursing care and physical therapy to the elderly and disabled in residential facilities. But on Sept. 4, a federal judge ruled the state couldn’t do that and ordered services restored for 950 people.

The 950 have been without care since July 1, when the state cut Adult Day Health Services within the Department of Social and Health Services. In a lawsuit filed against the state, the Office of the Washington State Long-term Care Ombudsman argued that the move wasn’t legal because the state failed to follow due process under Medicaid, the federal program that pays for the care. They were owed more cutoff notice, the ombudsman said, and the state was required to arrange replacement services.

On Sept. 4, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Jones agreed, granting a preliminary injunction that forces the state to continue paying for the program until alternative Medicaid-paid services can be found.
“The court understands and appreciates that the Washington State Legislature is facing extraordinary budgetary challenges amid these trying economic times,” Jones wrote in his order. “The court will not, however, countenance such decisions when their implementation violates fundamental due process rights. The record is clear that DSHS’s termination actions did not comport with due process.”

DSHS’s move had left people in the lurch since July 1, with no day services at all, says Louise Ryan, the state’s long-term care ombudsman. “The sudden loss of skilled services has been devastating for many of these very frail and vulnerable people,” says Ryan, the lead plaintiff in the case. “People who had regained the ability to walk were now back in wheelchairs. Pressure sores and contractures were worsening.”

Adult Day Health will still be phased out, Ryan says, but, as a result of the order, “they’ll be phased out in a way that makes sure people get the services they need” — and if they don’t like what DSHS sets them up with, they can ask for a hearing to challenge it.

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