11-4872 HENRY SPENCER, JR., v. AGENCY FOR PERSONS WITH DIABILITIES

State: Florida

Court: Florida First District Court

Docket No: 11-4872

Case Date: 05/04/2012

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA HENRY SPENCER, JR., Appellant, v. AGENCY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, Appellee. _____________________________/ Opinion filed May 4, 2012. An appeal from the Agency for Persons With Disabilities. Gloria R. Walker of Three Rivers Legal Services, Inc., Gainesville, for Appellant. Michael Palecki, General Counsel, and Melissa Ellen Dinwoodie, Tallahassee, for Appellee. NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED CASE NO. 1D11-4872

WETHERELL, J. Appellant, Henry Spencer, appeals the final order of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) assigning him to Tier Three of the home and communitybased services Medicaid waiver program for persons with developmental

disabilities (hereafter "the DD Waiver Program"). assignment, we affirm the final order.

Finding no error in this

Spencer is a developmentally disabled adult with a primary diagnosis of mental retardation. He resides in a group home and receives services under the DD Waiver Program pursuant to a cost plan approved by APD. The services reflected on his 2010-11 cost plan, which is the most recent plan in the record, are standard residential habilitation at the minimal level ($27,443.52), adult day training at a 1.6 to one ratio ($6,681.60), transportation ($8,788.80), waiver support coordination ($1,571.40), and adult dental services ($500). The total cost of these services is $44,985.32. In April 2010, APD notified Spencer that he was being assigned to Tier Three of the DD Waiver Program, which at the time, had a $35,000 annual expenditure limit. 1 Spencer timely requested a hearing to challenge his assignment to Tier Three and, in his petition, he argued that he should be assigned to Tier One, which at the time had no expenditure limit, so he could continue receiving all of the services on his cost plan. The case did not go to hearing until March 2011. 2

The expenditure limit was subsequently reduced to $34,125. See

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