ACTS wins injunction for early intervention conflict of interest regulation


There is a preliminary injunction regarding the Early Intervention arms length (conflict of interest) regulations.  The new regulations that prohibit agencies from both evaluating and providing services will apparently not be in effect until a final decision in the case is granted.  Municipalities are now waiting for actual BEI direction on how to proceed.

 For background:

 1. The NYS Developmental Disabilities Planning Council has a good compilation of links describing the adopted changes HERE

2. My blog post supporting the regulations and additional justification for that support can be found HERE

 3. You can view the ACTS press release HERE.  I have a copy of the order granting the injunction but am having some technical difficulties getting it uploaded onto my server - so I will provide a link as soon as I am able.

 The order is very interesting and the Court essentially found that there was merit to the argument that the Governor overstepped his authority and bypassed the legislature because these changes were initially presented to the legislature and voted down.

 It seems that the Court rejected statistics related to frequency of self-referral and it will be interesting to see if that information is re-presented because the data is in fact compelling.  I am wondering why the Court did not see it that way.

 The most important consideration for providers is that a lawsuit claiming technical errors in Executive process may temporarily keep the political barbarians from the clinical gate of the early intervention program.  However, the barbarians were using battering rams the first time around.  Just wait until they break out the trebuchets - because you can be certain that this is no longer just a pragmatic concern of the Counties related to their Medicaid costs - now it is also a slap across the face of Executive power.   

 I believe in checks and balances too - but this is a time when we should be contributing to policy creation by negotiation and participation.  Attempting to solve this through the Courts might not lead to an end that people really want.

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