The purpose of this policy is to establish the standards and guidelines by which the Department on Disability Services (DDS), Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA), will develop, revise and update policies and procedures that govern DDA. The following are the standards by which DDS will evaluate compliance with this policy:

DDA will establish policies and procedures that will govern the daily operations of DDA to include but not be limited to: implementation of the DD Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiver program per the Rules as published in DCMR Chapter 29; standards for quality in the provider service delivery system; and, internal business operation system.

1. DDA will develop a policy, procedure and attachment template to ensure uniformity in format.
2. DDA will develop procedures to delineate a method of creating, revising and approving of policies and associated procedures.
   1. When applicable, a review committee comprised of external and internal stakeholders will be created to review new or revised policies and/or procedures for public feedback on readability and operational clarity.
   2. When policies require broader subject matter expertise or input from outside stakeholders, DDA will establish a work group to assist in the development of such policies.
3. DDA General Counsel will review all policies for legal sufficiency and compliance with statutory court mandated issues, prior to final approval.
4. All policies that impact the operation of the DD HCBS waiver program must be reviewed and approved by DHCF, the HCBS waiver Administrative Authority, prior to dissemination.
5. DDA will implement the following procedure for disseminating all policies to DDA employees, stakeholders and necessary persons after final approval.
   1. All policies will be disseminated to the primary audience(s) with a cover memo from the Director or Deputy Director that highlights the significant change or direction contained in the policy, and, directs the audience to a specific person and/or DDS/DDA business unit for assistance or information to implement the policy.
   2. All Policies, procedures and attachments will be posted on the DDA website.
   3. The DDA Training Institute will ensure training of all DDA policies and procedures for DDA employees.
6. All DDA Service Providers are expected to comply with all new and revised policies by the effective date. It is the responsibility of the service provider to train its empl.oyees on the content of all applicable DDA Policies and Procedures.

Full Documents

• Policy Development and Template Policy
• Procedures for Development of Policies, Procedures and SOPs
• Policy Development Template Attachments