News Article

DOJ Report Finds that South Dakota Unnecessarily Relies on Nursing Facilities to Provide Services for People with Disabilities

May 03, 2016

A new report from the U.S. Department of Justice has found that South Dakota is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Supreme Court's Olmstead v. L.C. decision by unnecessarily relying on nursing facilities to provide services to people with disabilities.  The ADA and Olmstead ruling require states to make services available to people with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs, regardless of age or type of disability, yet South Dakotans with disabilities do not have meaningful choices to receive services in their homes or communities.  The report showed that thousands of South Dakotans are forced to live in nursing facilities, isolated from their communities, rather than utilize home- and community-based services.  The analysis also found that South Dakota may even have cost savings and be able to serve more people by increasing the state's use of home- and community-based services.  For more information, read the press release, the report and the article in The New York Times.