BRUNSWICK, Maine — Spindleworks will be holding a spring fling fundraiser next month, but its program director isn’t in the mood to celebrate.
Liz McGhee, who manages the Brunswick arts center for adults with disabilities, is worried about what a restructuring in state funding is going to do to her organization.
Spindleworks is a nonprofit art center in Brunswick. As a program of the Independence Association, it provides supplies, studio and gallery space to more than 40 artists with disabilities.
The organization has received a lot of support from the Brunswick community over the years, but it may be leaning even more on the community, because Spindleworks’ managers expect the program to lose more than $172,000 in annual MaineCare revenue, said McGhee.
“We haven’t gotten final numbers,” McGhee said, adding that she believes the eventual outcome will be “fairly devastating for our agency.”
The expected loss in revenue is due to the largest change in the state’s resource allocation system since 2006, according to Ray Nagel, executive director of the Independence Association.
“It’s impacting every person in the state of Maine with an intellectual disability that receives home and community-based services,” Nagel said.
Currently, what a person with disabilities receives for support is based on a plan determined by a team of provider agencies, family members and case managers, with input from the disabled individual. That plan is subject to state approval.
“The system doesn’t take into consideration what I call the human factor,” Nagel said.
SIS allocation is based on a “three-month snapshot” of an individual that helps determine what tier that person falls into, Nagel said.
“You’re assigned a number with an associated budget, and that’s the budget you’re working in,” Nagel said.
“It reduces someone to a number,” said McGhee.
Independence Association, which receives $9 million a year in MaineCare revenue, is expected to lose $2 million as a result, said Nagel.
For every hour an individual attends a Spindleworks program, MaineCare is billed $21.12. That amount will be reduced to $14.50 an hour for about two-thirds of the individuals who attend Spindleworks programs.
In order to compensate, McGhee and Nagel said they expect to have to reduce staff and programming hours at Spindleworks.
“We would have to cut positions,” Nagel said.
According to Nagel, the Department of Health and Human Services is switching to SIS in order to free up funding that will go toward shortening waitlists of people who are seeking services.
“They’re so hell-bent on eliminating the waitlist,” said McGhee, who noted that higher staff ratio could put clients and the public at risk in some extreme scenarios.
“The Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) measures the practical supports needed by an individual. It’s a comprehensive assessment that engages the consumer in a positive interview process,” DHHS spokesman John Martins stated in an email. “Case managers, guardians and direct support professionals are included in the interview.”
According to Martins, SIS is a national model that will use the same tool for everyone in determining what each person’s needs are for support. SIS is designed to “make sure that each person gets the resources they need” while increasing “person-centeredness, self-direction, employment and community inclusion.”
Each consumer will complete an SIS interview once every three years, according to Martins.
What the state is not addressing, said Nagel, is the financial implications.
“You’re basically eliminating any part of the program that maintains quality,” McGhee said. “It’s a change in paradigm … from creating a rich culture of creativity and acceptance to warehousing people with disabilities.”
SIS is expected to take effect July 1 and will be rolled out over the next six months, said Nagel.
DHHS has determined that adopting SIS is not a substantial enough change to require legislative approval, said Nagel, who has nevertheless been lobbying local legislators on the issue.
To offset the loss in MaineCare revenue, McGhee said she wants to see public donations increase from $5,000 to $15,000 a year. She also plans to apply for grants to try to fill the coffers before SIS goes into effect.
“If this is a tsunami coming, I’m trying to do everything I can to soften the blow,” McGhee said.
This may not be the only storm on the horizon. Independence Association and Spindleworks could be on the losing end if Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal to allow municipalities to tax large nonprofits becomes law.
“We will not be exempt from that. Taxes would be levied on properties over $500,000. We might have two or three of those, including this building here,” Nagel said, referring to the Spindleworks art center.
It is not yet known how much Independence Association and Spindleworks would have to pay.