Below are confirmed speakers/presentations - subject to change. We will continue to add information as it is available, including presentation slides and contact information.
Wednesday, June 12th General Session Presenters
MENTAL FLOSS - Communicating, Connecting, Creating . . . all under the influence of LAUGHTER
Through humor, personal stories, fun and funny facts and plenty of interactive exercises, Bob and Dave help the participants discover deeper communication, build richer connections and find creative solutions for many life situations. And it's done with heaping helpings of healthful laughter!
Bob Wells, M.A. and Dave Johnson, B.A:
Trainers, Presenters, Performers and Writers at Chicken Lips
Doing the IDD Two-Step Across the Country
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Two steps forward, one step back, as the old adage goes. IDD services across the nation continue to progress and demonstrate what is possible -- supporting people with IDD to live, learn, love, work and play as contributing and participating members of our communities. At the same time, challenges loom as states seek solutions to budget pressures, experiment with managed care options, restructure payment approaches, grapple with workforce shortages, navigate new technologies, and seek to define quality. How do we keep forward momentum and ensure that the two-step keeps us moving in the right direction? In this session we will discuss trends -- moving both forward and backward -- in today's IDD services across the country.
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Presentation Slides - coming soon
Principal at Health Management Associates
Alliance Leadership & Government Relations Team
Alliance's Session in Review & Future Legislative Priorities
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Join us to learn about the 2019 legislative session in Colorado as well as insights into where Alliance is heading in future years. This presentation will examine the highest impact legislation of the most recent session, including an overview of the most contentious bills debated by the General Assembly and the process and tone set by the new Polis administration and newly elected Democrat leadership. Presenters will also cover the critical IDD impacts included in the FY19-20 state budget as well as IDD-related bills that passed.
Staff will also ruminate on what legislation we anticipate seeing next year and present on the work done by Alliance’s Planning Legislative Asks Now (PLAN) Committee to elucidate some of Alliance’s long-term legislative priorities.
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Presenters will include:
Emma Hudson, MPA, MPH, Director of Government and Community Relations
Jim Cole, Partner/Owner, Lobbyist, Colorado Legislative Services
Zoey DeWolf, Partner, Lobbyist, Colorado Legislative Services
Ellen Jensby, JD, Senior Director of Public Policy and Operations, Alliance
Sally Montgomery, Alliance PLAN Committee Chairperson
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Wednesday, June 12th Breakout Sessions
Best Practices for Client Fund Management
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A Deep dive into exempt resources as described by the Social Security Administration. Tom will give a comprehensive review of what SSA and Medical Assistance allows and what they don’t allow. This should help managers and fiscal officers maintain compliance with SSA and Medical Assistance but also assist in resolving common pitfalls when making financial decisions as rep-payee. Ownership of housing, automobiles, trusts, ABLE accounts, HSAs, insurance, burial funds and other resources will be discussed.
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President of Arlington Heritage Group
What is Pharmacogenomics?
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This presentation will provide an understanding of how pharmacogenomics correlates gene expression to create a personalized medicine for the patient through predicted drug responses regarding efficacy and response. Attendees will leave with an understanding of this exciting technology and the benefits and barriers for patients and providers.
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Clinical Director of Operations at PDC Pharmacy
Leilani Glaser, RN, CDDN, CLNC:
Owner and Curriculum & Consultation Coordinator for LifeLearnU
Three D's: Drugs, Delegation, and Deficiencies
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Persons affected by IDD in 2019 are reaping both the benefits and pitfalls of a longer life-span and living with chronic medical conditions. HCBS supports are deemed Personal - not Medical - care. Administrators, Case Managers, and Nurses struggle with navigating authoritative standards for blending Personal and Medical supports successfully when interventions involve medications or medical procedures. Get to know the standards and improve your delivery of person-centered care for the medically complex cases in your agency safely, legally, and for the long term.
Co-Presenter: Katrina Cupp, RN, BSN - Owner, Chief of Operations LifeLearnU
Sponsored by ClearSpring Pharmacy
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Click here for General Presentation Slides
Handouts general to all states:
Presentation notes + reference documents
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Regional Account Executive at Relias
This breakout session was canceled last minute, and to make up for it, Relias is offering this as a webinar. Click here to view the webinar on DSP Retention anytime. Also, click here for an e-book that may be of interest for those with the same topic in mind.
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Preventing Turnover: Hiring & Retention
Organizations are losing quality staff to higher paying jobs in the food industry, poor management, unexpected workload, etc. Once you’ve done the work to find good staff, don’t lose them to a competitor! Find out how small investments into your staff can make a world of difference. This presentation will highlight the common themes that cause turnover, the costs associated, and how to mitigate turnover by finding and keeping quality staff.
Lisa Sisneros Brow M.S., CCC-SLP:
Marketing Director at iTherapyDocs
How to Think About "Digital" Solutions to Improve Agency Management
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This presentation demonstrates real-life lessons of a community support services and residential agency toward 100% CMS-compliance and improvements of the quality of services delivered by direct staff, host families, consultants and administrative staff in a collaborative and digital environment.
The digital environment enables a comprehensive care model for Colorado that incorporates additional non-IDD service providers, such as therapists, supporting our individuals.
We'll delve deep into the levels of "digital" solutions, discussing what each level is and how it can impact care for individuals from a clinical, ethical, and quality of life perspective.
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Co-Presenter: Jami Grindatto, former CEO
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Director of Clinical Services at Support, Inc
The “Heart-Led” Organization: Integrating Leadership & Clinical Services
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Recent research has demonstrated new and exciting connections between cardiac function, brain activity patterns, emotional activation, and behavioral patterns. This research has important implications for how we function, both individually and collectively. The heart and brain coordinate learning, flexibility, adaptability, emotional management, and social engagement.
We propose that a “heart-led” organization is not only characterized by caring for others in word and deed, but that organizations can be literally led, organized, and directed by information about and from our hearts. In this presentation, we introduce aspects of interrelated brain & cardiac function that we have used to coordinate leadership, management, operational and clinical practices within a human services organization.
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Co-Presenters: Nicholas Manning, MBA & Gwen Bonilla, LSW from Support, Inc.
Thursday, June 13th General Session Presenters
Person centered inclusive supports - Only achievable with a stable, competent and sufficient direct support workforce
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Having a person centered life where you get to live where and with whom you want, have a job for which you earn real wages, practice the faith of your choice, have lifelong, loving relationships with friends, family and intimate partners, experience lifelong learning and opportunities for education, explore all the things for which you have interest, are healthy, have memberships in community organizations and being a responsible citizen are all critical aspects of community living. Our ideology and rhetoric speaks to the importance of community living and participation, and person-centeredness - people who pay for services expect it, people with IDD and their families demand it. Yet can we really get there? Our ability to do so is influenced by the availability, stability and competence of those individuals who provide the services necessary to support people living and participating in their communities and by the policies and service delivery systems that offer these supports. An overview of the direct support workforce nationally and in Colorado will be provided and thoughts about needed organization, systems and community level solutions shared.
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Great Support is Remarkably Simple!
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What makes great support for people with developmental disabilities? There is one remarkably straightforward understanding that connects leading developmental disability thinkers from all over the world. In this presentation, we will first align our minds with this understanding. We will then go on to explore insights from those leading thinkers and how, very simply, we can apply their thinking to the lives of the people we support.
Founder at Open Future Learning
Staff at the Office of Community Living, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing
Office of Community Living Roadmap & Insights to the Waiting List
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Department of Health Care Policy & Financing staff will present a roadmap and strategies to streamline, improve and increase access to home and community-based services (HCBS) administered by the Office of Community Living. The session will specifically cover where the Office is headed, a brief outline of the initiatives and timelines to get there, and updates on enrollment in the three HCBS waivers targeted to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
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This session will also dive into waiting list management practices for the HCBS-DD waiver, as well as an overview of waiting list data from the past year.
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Presenters will include:
Bonnie Silva, Interim Director, Office of Community Living, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing
Karli Cheatham, Entry Point and Case Management Section Lead, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing
Brittani Trujillo, Entry Point and Case Management Section Manager, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing
Colin Laughlin, MPA, Benefits and Services Management Division Director, Office of Community Living, Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing
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Thursday, June 13th Breakout Sessions
ColoradoABLE accounts and the benefits
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ColoradoABLE has been open for nearly 2 years and for populations of people with disabilities, it is a separate savings account that is not part of the asset limit for receiving SSI and Medicaid. Therefore, any money saved in an ABLE is not part of the $2000 asset limit to receive those federal benefits. There are a vast array of qualified disability expenses that assets from the ABLE account can be used for, such as education, basic living expenses, housing, transportation, and health and wellness, to name a few. Finally, the account owner gets to determine if the funds will be invested in low-cost index funds and/or put into an FDIC-insured checking account for easy access. It only takes a couple of minutes to open an ABLE account, but it will create a lifetime of saving and empowerment.
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Michael Keglovits:
ABLE & Special Programs Manager at CollegeInvest
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing's efforts around Electronic Visit Verification
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Congress recently enacted new Electronic Visit Verification requirements to prevent fraud in services delivered in individuals' homes. Learn how Colorado is implementing federal EVV requirements and how they will impact people with IDD and their providers. Information shared will include implementation timelines, details about the EVV system Colorado will use, and options for providers to choose their own EVV vendors.
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Benefits and Services Management Division Director at the
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing
Co-founder and Partner at Bechtel, Santo & Severn
Legal, Legislative, and Best-Practices Update for Employers
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2019 is only a couple months old and already we’re seeing dramatic changes in the employment-law arena. For example, the Colorado legislature recently introduced a number of employment bills (e.g., use of conviction information, paid leave, Equal Pay Act, etc.) that will surely impact the human resources field. Further, both federal and state courts and administrative agencies continue to reshape previously enacted laws (e.g., Americans with Disabilities Act, National Labor Relations Act, Employee Handbook, etc.). And, of course, it doesn’t seem that a day goes by without an employee challenging an organization’s practice by uttering the phrase, “…well, I read on the internet…” This ever-changing field demands that we stay abreast of all the changes. This session will provide attendees with an update on all these recent changes.
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Augusta Klimek, M.A., CRC: WIOA Manager at CDLE - Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
Adam Tucker: HCBS Benefit Specialist at HCPF - Office of Community Living
SB18-145: Supported Employment Provider Qualifications and Reimbursement Process
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Research consistently demonstrates the positive impact of work on a person's health and well being, including that of individuals with significant disabilities. Therefore, it is critical individuals with significant disabilities have opportunities to engage in meaningful employment. New provider qualifications are being established in Colorado to build capacity and improve employment outcomes for those requiring supported employment services. This session will discuss these new requirements for providers of individualized supported employment services, as well as describe the process and requirements for providers to receive reimbursement of training/certification costs.
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Karen L. Weigle, PhD, Associate Director at Center for START Services, University of
New Hampshire Institute on Disability
Colorado START Demonstration Project: Outcomes
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This presentation will describe a demonstration of the use of START Coordination in the reduction of incidence of crises for people with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD) and behavioral health needs. As a result of the 2014 University of Colorado School of Medicine Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities gap analysis, Colorado established the Cross-System Response for Behavioral Health Crises Pilot Program. The state contracted with Center for START Services to provide training on Mental Health Aspects of IDD. Two participating IDD providers, STRiVE and Foothills Gateway, made the decision to expand their expertise and contract directly with Center for START Services to train staff on the evidence-based practices and tools utilized by START. In collaboration with the Rocky Mountain MCO, STRiVE in Grand Junction and Foothills Gateway in Fort Collins partnered to combine their sites into one team for this project. Services, participants, and outcome measures related to systemic change, mental health stability, and crisis service usage will be outlined.
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Brittani Trujillo, Entry Point and Case Management Section Manager and
Karli Cheatham, Entry Point and Case Management Section Lead:
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing
DD Waiver Waitlist Past, Present, & Future
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With nearly 3,000 people listed on the DD waiver waiting list requesting access to 24/7 services as-soon-as-available, how is the state managing available DD allocations to maximize services for people on the waiting list? What has the state learned from data gathered in the last year from families who were offered a new waiver allocation? In what ways can we all work together to make progress on reducing or ending the waiting list over time? These are some of the questions we’ll discuss during this follow-up session to the morning General Session. Join us as we explore the nuances of the past, present, future, and intent of the DD waiver.
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Friday, June 14th Six State Summit General Session Presenters
National Trends in State I/DD Systems
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This presentation will provide a national perspective on the Trends facing State I/DD Systems including insights on the implications of the trends, and strategies for sustainability and innovation with an eye toward the future of LTSS. Jeanine will describe the fiscal constraints within Medicaid growing more intense as increased need for long-term care services continues to mount. Sustainability is a challenge that states now face while balancing higher expectations for support and control from individuals with disabilities and their families. She will also share data regarding how people with disabilities use long-term services and supports and highlight state initiatives that create opportunities for people with I/DD to live, work, and be part of their communities.
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Director of Communications and Educational Programs,
National Association of State Directors of
Developmental Disabilities Services
What's going on in DC and why should I care?
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A federal update on disability and provider specific legislation and regulations including the DSP workforce crisis, LTSS financing, Medicaid, HCBS settings rule, EVV and much more.
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Presentation Slides - coming soon
Director of Legislative Affairs at American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR)
Friday Luncheon Keynote Speaker
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Dianne Primavera is a leading patient advocate who has spent three decades fighting for every Coloradan’s access to quality, affordable health care.
As a young mom in 1988, Dianne was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her doctor told her that she had, at most, five years to live. Since her first diagnosis, Dianne has fought cancer four times and survived. Her personal battle with cancer inspired her to make it her life’s work to ensure every Coloradan has access to the health care they need when they need it.
In 1990, Dianne joined the Rocky Mountain Regional Brain Injury Center, where her work focused on helping individuals dealing with serious injuries recover and resume dignified, fulfilling lives. Since then, she’s held many prominent positions throughout the public and non-profit sectors devoted to furthering life-saving medical research and connecting Coloradans who experience illness with the treatment they need to recover.
In 2006, Dianne was elected to the first of four terms in the State Legislature, representing Broomfield, Superior, and parts of Erie. Throughout her service, Dianne was highly regarded for her success working across the aisle to promote Colorado small businesses, lower prescription drug costs, and expand access to affordable health care.
Most recently, Dianne served as the CEO of Susan G. Komen Colorado, one of the largest organizations in the country dedicated to breast cancer prevention, treatment, research, and education.
Dianne is a lifelong Coloradan and a Broomfield resident. She has two adult daughters and a one-year-old
granddaughter, Kailani. Dianne is also an avid country dancer — taking after her dad, who was a dedicated
ballroom dancer throughout his life, even on his 95th birthday.
Friday Luncheon Entertainment
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The Rocky Mountain Aphasia Chorale is a community chorale formed in June 2018, and whose membership consists of stroke survivors and care partners, as well as members of the healthcare community that surrounds them. People with aphasia often have a preserved ability to sing, and a choir is a wonderful opportunity to showcase and celebrate the strength and resilience of this community while making beautiful music together.
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Our mission is to create an inclusive community for people from all walks of life to come together and use their strengths and talents in a high quality choral environment. To learn more about the chorale, visit www.aphasiachorale.org and join us for our Summer 2019 Concert, "Colorful Colorado: Songs from the Centennial State" on Friday July 5, 7pm at Hope United Methodist Church, Greenwood Village, CO.
Friday, June 14th Six State Summit State Share Panels
Utah Panel Discussion: An IDD Update from Utah (Charlie Luke from the Utah Association of Community Services.)
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South Dakota Panel Discussion: “State of the State: South Dakota’s Intellectual and Developmental Disability Services” (Dan Cross, Executive Director of Community Support Providers of South Dakota)
North Dakota Panel Discussion: A New Payment System and Collaborative Rulemaking.
Objectives: To explain the structure and key features of North Dakota’s Supports-Intensity-Scale based payment system along with its professional judgment modification (outlier) process. To explain recent efforts and legislation to enable providers and regulators to craft new rules and policies together for better direct services. (Bruce Murry, Executive Director of the North Dakota Association of Community Providers)
Colorado Panel Discussion: Lessons Learned from HB18-1407: Colorado’s investment in a 6.5% rate increase for direct support professional compensation, 300 new HCBS-DD waiver allocations, and a path to assist people experiencing a caregiver crisis. (Alliance Staff)
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Due to limited space and high demand, this is an Alliance Member event or by invite only.
Click HERE to read Alliance's Invitation Policy and to request an invitation to attend.