Disabled Patients Sue State Over Funds
Six developmentally disabled people from a Glendora residential facility sued the state Department of Developmental Services on Monday, claiming that the state’s reimbursement system is illegal and insufficient to provide for their care.
The plaintiffs, the director of Casa Carmen Guest Home and six residents with handicaps ranging from microcephalus to epilepsy and schizophrenia are seeking a court order forcing the state to create what they call an equitable rate structure.
The Los Angeles Superior Court suit said that before 1984, the state’s payment structure reimbursed each facility for the hours of supervision it spent on its patients, and paid additionally for the special services each patient needed.
But under a new rate system, payments for most special services have been eliminated, the suit said.
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