What is this project?
We are working to make waiver services easier to understand and use. We asked people who use services, their families, Developmental Disabilities Community Services staff, and community partners for ideas. We received more than 1,800 comments.
In keeping with our DSHS mission, vision and values, DDCS shared the Waiver Restructure Report with the Legislature on Dec. 1, 2024. The report says how we can make the waiver services system better based on the comments we received. It suggests changing from the current five waivers to two waivers and making the service options similar across both waivers. The waiver a person gets will depend on where a person lives and what they want and need.
Timeline
The full change to two waivers will take about 4 to 5½ years. Changes to our computer systems (like the CARE tool) will take 3 to 4 years after service design is finished. We plan to move from five waivers to two waivers no earlier than 2029–2030.
Steps:
- Design services and rates.
- The Research and Data Analysis team will create calculations to decide service amounts and rates.
- The Division of Information Technology will put the algorithms into the CARE assessment tool.
Moving to 2 waivers will take longer than we originally hoped. Our team is looking at other ways to improve services on our current waivers by September 2027.
Click here to see Monthly updates from 2025
Stay in Touch
We will continue to hear from people with lived experience during the waiver redesign project. Your ideas help us improve services. If you would like to get involved, please visit our Community Collaborators page for more information.
We are holding listening sessions; many of these groups are meeting monthly. Groups include:
- Legislative Report Community Collaborators
- Family Advisory Council and Regional Advisory Council
- Self-Advocates Advisory Council
- Providers and counties
- DDCS field staff
Topics discussed so far:
- August 2025: waiver names
- September 2025: incidental personal care
- October 2025: access and adaptation
- November 2025: social engagement and community participation
- December 2025: goods and services
Update: We have held over 50 meetings for community collaboration so far! The Community Collaboration listening sessions will pause starting January 2026 so we can focus on service design. We will start sessions again when we have updates to share.
The dates and times of future listening sessions will be posted here.