Chapter 257 Update

Tuesday, January 6 was an important day for community based health care and human services. A Superior Court Judge ruled that the State has largely failed to comply with a law known as Chapter 257. That law requires the State to pay fair rates to providers like Riverside for many of our services. The judge required the State to ensure compliance with the eight year old law by July 1, 2015.

Our industry has suffered for decades without a regular way to increase rates for services. Chapter 257 has been an effort to solve this issue and there have been gains including a huge increase for services for people with developmental disabilities and brain injuries. But, it is late to fully implement the law and the judge has now moved it forward.

Riverside was one of the early advocates for the new law, intensely advocated to get it passed, and signed onto the suit to implement it. Our work with our key trade organizations will mean better salaries for staff, improved buildings and equipment, and more consistency for the people we serve. There is still more work to do before the law is fully implemented and the new Governor has expressed his support for Chapter 257. After eight long years, it looks like we are almost there.

~Scott M. Bock, President/CEO