February 25, 2026 | Issue 5

news & updates

State and Territory Updates

• Maine Director of the Office of Aging and Disability Services and NASDDDS board member, Elizabeth Hopkins, was recently profiled for the NASDDDS Director Spotlight Series. READ MORE

• Oregon, along with the New England States Consortium Systems Organization (NESCSO), and the MESC Planning Committee, will host the 2026 Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference in Portland, Oregon on August 17-20, 2026. READ MORE

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NASDDDS News

Healthcare Access for People with I/DD: A NASDDDS Research Priority

The NASDDDS Research Committee, a sub-committee of the Board of Directors, has identified healthcare for people with IDD as a priority for research and policy development. The identification of this as a priority highlights the importance of access to quality healthcare for people with IDD to our member states. The Health, Welfare, and Rights Domain of the National Core Indicators® In Person Survey for People with IDD contains data around preventative healthcare, healthcare access, wellness and medication usage. States can use this data to examine healthcare for people using LTSS services provided by the DD system in their states. 

In addition, people with disabilities who live in rural areas face more barriers to healthcare than those without disabilities which creates an impact on health outcomes (Swendener, et al, 2025). The NCI-IDD In Person Survey collects zip code information for each person responding to the survey which allows states to further examine data in the Health, Welfare, and Rights Domain based on residence in urban or rural settings. Please reach out to Laura Vegas at lvegas@nasddds.org for more information.

NASDDDS is collecting state strategies for enhancing access to health care and health outcomes for people with IDD and are eager to hear other state strategies, including in rural and frontier areas. Please let us know what your state has underway! Reach out to Stacy Nonnemacher at snonnemacher@nasddds.org.

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Sponsor Information

• RISP Data Byte: In 1982, almost all long-term supports and services (LTSS) for people with IDD were provided in institutions licensed as Medicaid Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IID). Since then, there have been fewer people with IDD living in institutions and more receiving Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). READ MORE

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Partner and Community Resources

• The Tribal Public Health Conference will be held in Oklahoma City on April 7-9. The theme for this year’s conference is “The Vision for Generational Healing, Health, and Wellness.” Attendees will explore healing and wellness across lifespans and generations. READ MORE

• IntellectAbility will host a webinar on March 26th titled, The Rural Health Transformation Program: Opportunities to Improve Healthcare for People with IDD featuring Julie Foster-Hagan, Executive Director of the Office of Rural Health Transformation and Sustainability for the Louisiana Department of Health. READ MORE

• The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) as part of the Guardianship Alternatives and Transfer-of-Rights (GATOR) project released a research to practice brief, Partnering with People with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities to Design and Implement Research. The brief documents an inclusive, participatory approach to qualitative research that positions people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities as paid co-researchers across all phases of a research study. READ MORE

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Thank you to our sponsors:

• Benchmark Human Services
• National Residential Information System Project (RISP)
• Impruvon Health

• Simply Home
• StationMD
• Therap
• ThinkWork ICI

The National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) does not exclusively endorse any sponsor, product, or service referenced in this newsletter. Likewise, the views, information, and content presented in this newsletter do not constitute endorsement by any sponsor. All editorial content is developed independently by NASDDDS to inform and support its members.