Advocacy and Direct Support Professionals

The Direct Support Professional workforce has been a focus in the state and federal governments for many years now. Much of this is thanks to the advocacy of providers, their clients, and of course the DSPs themselves. Through tours, roundtable discussions, and testimony given at the Statehouse, DSPs and their supporters have done excellent work to relay their perspectives to those that need to hear it. Because of that, wages have increased, training continues to develop, and more clients have been given top tier services. Below is an outline of accomplishments for DSPs in the Indiana state legislature over the past 10 years. Stay tuned for incoming resources to help DSPs advocate for more success in the future!

2017: Funds for Medicaid increased, and providers were required to give written and electronic notices on their plan to specifically increase DSP wages.

2017: The Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Task Force is established. In its seven years of existence, the Task Force discussed and brought attention to the DSP workforce many times.

2021: The state budget included a 14% rate increase for 11 DSP-delivered Medicaid waiver services and a 10% rate increase for group home services. It was also required that 95% of this rate increase go directly to the wages and benefits of the DSP workforce.

2022: The Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Task Force makes recommendations on a statewide curriculum for DSPs so that the workforce can receive the best, most consistent training possible.

2023: Medicaid rates received a $156 million increase, resulting in much more funding for DSP-delivered services. This resulted in significant wage and benefit increases for DSPs across the state.

2024: The DDRS Advisory Council is required to publicly report on the number of DSPs that go through the statewide training and curriculum on a quarterly basis. This gives much more visibility on DSPs and the excellent work they do.