California Self-Determination Program (SDP) participants enjoy the freedom to choose support services that best help them reach their goals. Participants and their support teams can search for service providers and hire them if they believe they are worthy of receiving funds from their individual budgets.
How do you know if a particular service provider is legitimate, though? After all, you don’t want to spend money on untrustworthy service providers.
To give you some peace of mind about people you might hire to provide services, let’s take a peek behind the curtain. Below, we’ll break down what it takes for a service provider to officially become vendored through a California regional center.
A Self-Determination Program service in California is anything used by participants – certain Californians with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDDs) – that further the personal goals outlined in their individual program plans (IPPs).
SDP participants may use service providers not officially vendored through a regional center, though it may provide peace of mind to hire providers endorsed by a regional center.
Such regional center services may help customers with employment, education, durable medical equipment, transportation, or almost any other area that helps foster independence.
The SDP is a last resort payer, meaning it helps fund services not reimbursed through Medi-Cal or another public service.
Any service provider wishing to get paid directly through a regional center must go through a process called vendorization.
The first two steps of the process are completing a Vendor Application Form and submitting the disclosures required by Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations. Certain vendors must conduct background checks on anyone hired to carry out their services.
In many cases, service providers must obtain one or more licenses from the state. After receiving final approval, vendors may choose to become available to other regional centers throughout the state.
Prospective vendors who wish to provide services related to the personal care of regional center customers or SDP participants, such as bathing or grooming, must submit background checks on all workers.
While certain serious felonies, such as abuse or assault, usually disqualify people from providing regional center or SDP services, others may necessitate workers’ having to submit a waiver with the state.
Those employed by the state in any capacity are typically ineligible to become vendors, as are state employees with a financial interest in any vendor. The same restrictions apply to regional center employees and consumers themselves (except in rare circumstances).
SDP participants may hire a service provider called an independent facilitator to help them find and secure helpful vendors or service providers.
A Self-Determination Program independent facilitator can be paid through regional center funds, which takes the burden directly off participants’ pockets.
While regional center customers who receive services through the traditional model must stick to approved vendors, SDP participants may use service providers who have not completed the entire vendorization process. This gives participants more choices, and a skilled independent facilitator can help them take advantage of this larger pool of service providers.
NeuroNav has a proven team of independent facilitators ready to provide crucial SDP support to you or a loved one. We offer free consultations and can’t wait to speak with you about adding value to your SDP journey.