SCOC privatization explained

TIFFIN — Rodney Biggert, director of what is now named Preferred Pathways, was host to a townhall Thursday evening in conjunction with Seneca County Opportunity Center Superintendent Lew Hurst regarding the privatization of their Adult Services. Previously, adult services would take place in the opportunity center alongside their school, but due to a growing number of children in need of services, adult services will be handled by Preferred Pathways at their new Tiffin location, located at 541 W. Market St. Why privatize? Hurst opened by explaining that orders to privatize adult day services from the Centers of Medicaid and Medicare came down roughly 10 years ago, leading to the creation of Preferred Pathways. He continued by sharing that Seneca County is the last in the state to privatize its services, saying they waited as long as they could. According to Hurst, this was done for a simple reason: change is hard on people. Biggert added to this, noting the changes required a separation between the Direct Service Provision (DSP) and the writing of service plans. Hurst explained that a stipulation within the order states that day services (the adult services program) can't operate in a building or institution that is also a school. "We had been hearing from several clients that they were happy with the services being provided for such a long time, but we essentially had no choice," said Hurst. Superintendent's Note Hurst took a minute prior to the presentation to ask everyone in the audience to pay attention to national news, urging a united front in support of adult day services - regardless of one's own political beliefs. "Please pay attention to any talk of reduction to FMAP- Federal Medical Assistance Percentage. Essentially, this is a percentage that is directly correlated to federal assistance for adult services," said Hurst. According to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission's website, the FMAP for Ohio for FFY 2025 is 64.6%. This means that for every dollar the state spends on (most) Medicaid services, it receives roughly $0.646 back from the federal government. "There are talks of reducing that percentage down to a 50/50 split and this could seriously impact the quality and availability of our services," said Hurst. Growing Need Locally The Opportunity Center has seen a significant increase in the number of children needing services, while maintaining a steady need for adult services within one building. This growth can be attributed to an increase in the availability of resources to diagnose younger children and adults with autism, as well as a moderate opiate problem in the area. Hurst quoted a statistic from Mercy Health-Tiffin Hospital, noted that 1 in 7 pregnant women are found to have chemicals (mostly opioids, specifically painkillers) in their prenatal screenings. "Painkillers have a known side effect of changing both the developing brain of a child as well as the mother," said Hurst. "We are in turn seeing a large number of Children being raised by their grandparents, as well as children being raised with social disorders." New Buildings "All of this has been years in the making, with planning as early as ten years ago," said Hurst. "We were lucky in the sense that these buildings fell into our lap, in a way." Hurst explained that the Seneca County Board of Developmental Disabilities was able to acquire the buildings at a reduced rate thanks to a generous donation from Mercy Health. One of the buildings on site (previously known as the Fair Lane Building) will be utilized as the board's SSA offices, temporarily being housed at 455 E. Market St., Suite F, while it is remodeled. Hurst shared he hopes to have this building open by the spring. The other two will serve as the Preferred Pathways buildings, named the North and South buildings respectively. He continued, explaining that the discount they were offered stems from a common goal between the two organizations. What does it mean for those receiving services? "Individuals previously receiving day services at the Opportunity Center were welcomed with open arms at Prefered Pathways," said Hurst. Biggert added, noting that while the changes were implemented roughly three weeks ago, they have only been open for services for roughly 7-to 8 days due to inclement weather. "Here at Preferred Pathways, we want to help people reach their highest potential—whatever that may mean for them," said Biggert. He continued, sharing the organization's core values as honesty, integrity reliability, and most importantly, fun. "I want people to WANT to spend their time here. I want our clients to want to spend time with us," said Biggert. One of the areas the organization will focus on is choice, allowing individuals who are participating in community experiences to go by choice, rather than by assignment. When a community experience is available for individuals to participate in, rather than maintaining the groups that they would be in within the Preferred Pathways building, they are grouped by interest in the activity. This led Biggert to the creation of the organization's name: Preferred Pathways "Traditionally, the opportunity center has held choice and services as paramount," said Biggert. "So I took a thesaurus and looked up synonyms for opportunity and choice, and that's what I was left with." Pre and Post-Privatization Services According to both Hurst and Biggert, so far the transition has been nearly seamless. "Of course, there have been some minor things such as problems with our phone system," said Biggert. "But in regards to operational problems, it has been smooth." Previously, the types of services offered at the opportunity center included Habilitation Services, Vocational Services, Transportation Services, and Community Employment Services. "All of these pre-privatization services have been maintained and we have even been able to add some Residential Services as well," said Biggert. He continued, saying they are the same services with mostly the same staff before introducing some of the new staff as well. After introducing the staff, attending participants were able to take a tour of the newly remodeled buildings.