On July 28, 2005, nine individuals with developmental disabilities filed this lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Illinois Department of Public Health in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. They alleged that they were eligible for long term care through state administered Medicaid Services but were forced to reside in large congregate care institutions rather than community based facilities as a condition of receiving care in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Medicaid Act, and the Rehabilitation Act. They sought declaratory and injunctive relief.

A group of developmentally disabled individuals who could receive community based care but did not wish to do so sought to intervene. On December 22, 2005, the district court (Judge James F. Holderman) denied this petition on the grounds that their rights were not at issue in the case. This group appealed, but on February 15, 2007, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (Judges Easterbrook, Kanne, and Williams) affirmed the district court. On March 7, 2006, the district court (Judge Holderman) certified a class consisting of all persons in Illinois with developmental disabilities who qualified for long term care and were capable of being cared for in a community based facility but were either institutionalized in large congregate care facilities or at risk of being so institutionalized.

The parties reached agreement on a consent decree and submitted it to the court on November 13, 2008. Numerous objections were filed by those who feared they would be forced into community based care or that institutionalized care would suffer because of the consent decree. On July 7, 2009, the court (Judge Holderman) refused to approve the consent decree and decertified the class on the grounds that the named plaintiffs did not represent class members who either were not eligible for community based treatment or did not wish to have such treatment. On August 31, 2009, the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint narrowing the proposed class to only those individuals who had requested community based placements.

On January 25, 2010, the parties filed a revised consent decree and motion for class certification. On January 26, 2010, the United States filed a Statement of Interest in support of the revised consent decree. A number of previous objectors sought to intervene and on April 7, 2010, the court (Judge Holderman) granted their motion for limited intervention. The parties and the intervenors proceeded to negotiate and on January 11, 2011, the parties and intervenors filed a motion for class certification and preliminary approval of a new consent decree. The court (Judge Holderman) granted these motions on January 13, 2011. The consent decree provided for increased placement of developmentally disabled individuals into community based treatment programs should they desire it, a statewide database and waitlist, and the development of transition service plans. It also contained measures protecting institutionalized care, and called for various benchmarks and the appointment of a monitor. Judge Holderman approved the consent decree on June 15, 2011.

Since monitoring began in 2011, the monitor, Tony Records, had filed three yearly reports, reporting one major instance of noncompliance in 2012 when an intermediate care facility serving 205 individuals closed quickly and residents were transitioned to new placements without the protected processes required by the consent decree. The 2013 report noted concerns about reimbursement to intermediate care facilities and other issues that would require additional efforts by the defendants.

On June 17, 2015, because Judge Holderman retired, the court Executive Committee reassigned the case to Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman.

In June of 2015, the Illinois state legislature faced a budget crisis, so the court (Judge Coleman), approved the parties' Agreed Order on June 30, 2015, that even in the absence of an FY2016 budget, the state of Illinois would continue to pay all service providers covered under the consent decree. However, in an order issued August 18, 2015, Judge Coleman noted that in absence of a state budget, the State Comptroller had issued letters describing the state's intent to only pay for services provided to members of the class covered by the consent decree. Since many services providers work with both class members and non-class members across the population with developmental disabilities, this practice put the entire population at risk, and Judge Coleman ordered that the state continue timely payments for all service providers. In response to an emergency motion filed by plaintiffs and intervenors, Judge Coleman issued another order on September 1, 2015, again ordering the state to make timely payments for services to individuals with developmental disabilities in the interim until the state passed an FY 2016 budget. On June 22, 2016, Plaintiffs and Defendants submitted a proposed Agreed Order which would order the State to continue to pay for all services and personnel required by the consent decree during FY 2017. Judge Johnson Coleman granted the order on June 28, 2016, requiring the State to provide funding in the absence of a FY 2017 budget.

The Monitor's Fourth Annual Report, submitted in January 2016, indicated several concerns over the State's financial status and its impact on resources available to implement the decree, particularly with respect to shortages staff members able to provide adequate services to class members in the community. This was true despite defendants' efforts to implement the terms of the decree. The Fifth Annual Report, filed in January of 2017, indicated that there had been no improvement with respect to direct service provider shortages over the past year. It also noted that, because of staffing shortages, the availability of small community assisted living homes was actually decreasing. Another concern noted was the availability of adequate day activity and employment programs.

Citing the Monitor's findings, on April 7, 2017, Plaintiffs and Intervenors filed a joint motion to enforce the consent decree. They indicated that a major reason behind defendants' failure to properly implement the decree was the State's inadequate reimbursement rates. On August 11, 2017, Judge Johnson Coleman granted the motion, finding that defendants had failed to provide class members by failing to provide them with resources of sufficient quality, scope, and variety. She ordered defendants to devise a plan to address the issues causing the reduction in services and to bring the State into substantial compliance.

A status hearing to discuss the implementation of the Order is set for January 31, 2018. The case is ongoing.

Michael Perry - 02/18/2011
Kate Craddock - 11/15/2015
Lauren Latterell Powell - 01/02/2018


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