Under a new process established by the Bureau of Disabilities Services (BDS), individuals who want to transition from a Supervised Group Living (SGL) setting to the Community Integration and Habilitation (CIH) waiver must reside in an SGL setting for a minimum of 365 consecutive days before being eligible to apply for a CIH waiver. This requirement applies to current and future SGL residents who are applying for the CIH waiver. The following policy is effective January 13, 2026.
- An individual must reside in an SGL setting for a minimum of 365 consecutive days before being eligible to apply for a CIH waiver.
- The 365 days will start on the date of admission.
- The 365 consecutive days in an SGL setting (required before an individual is eligible to apply for the CIH waiver) may include up to 60 days of therapeutic leave within a given calendar year. Such leave will not count against the 365 days required for the CIH waiver eligibility.
- Therapeutic leave days that are more than 15 consecutive days and not pre-planned will need to have an Individualized Support Team (IST) meeting to determine next steps.
- In circumstances where an individual must be discharged, the 365-day count will resume upon readmission. The following scenarios would be allowable exceptions to the consecutive 365 days:
- An arrest that leads to time in jail;
- A hospital admission lasting longer than 15 days (medical and psychiatric);
After the required minimum of 365 days in an SGL setting has been met, it will be the responsibility of the individual resident or their legal representative to request a CIH waiver application. The BDS service coordinator will schedule an IST meeting to discuss the transition process, and to ensure eligibility for CIH consideration. Prior to this meeting, the SGL provider must provide an accounting of the 365-day requirement. The current provider must obtain any previous accounting from all previous providers if needed to meet the requirement.
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