Because the demand for community-based services and supports often outweighs available resources, applicant's names may be placed on an interest list until services are available. However, some needs may be met through other programs until an applicant's name comes to the top of the list.

Applicants are placed on interest lists on a first-come, first-served basis. When a person's name comes to the top of the list, he or she will be contacted by a caseworker. When the caseworker determines that someone is eligible, that person will need to choose a provider to deliver services, if he or she has not already done so.

DADS received significant funding from the 80th Texas Legislature (2007) to serve additional persons from the Medicaid waiver and non-Medicaid community services interest lists. House Bill 1 provides $71.5 million in general revenue funds to address the interest lists at DADS.

Interest lists for community-based programs are managed either locally or statewide, depending on the program. The programs are:

• Community Living Assistance and Support Services (CLASS)
• Deaf Blind with Multiple Disabilities (DBMD)
• Home and Community-based Services (HCS)
• Medically Dependent Children's Program (MDCP)

Allocations are based on available funding. People who have been on the interest lists the longest are enrolled first. Enrollment is done by:

• regional employees
• Local intellectual and developmental disability authorities
• CLASS providers
• DBMD

For information about how to apply for services, visit the Services website.

Interest List Reduction Report Summary Fiscal Years 2020-2021

Note: To see past reports, please click here.

August 2020

1. HCS and TxHmL counts for Released/Removed and Total Releases are derived from CARE data source, and provided by Local Authority staff.
2. Released/Removed counts include individuals already in the pipeline as of August 31, 2019, excluding MFP.
3. An individual may be counted more than once in the Enrolled and Denied/Declined/Withdrawn categories, but only once in Total Releases. Therefore, Release/Removal counts may be higher than the total count of released individuals.
4. These totals count unique individuals with close codes in this category, who also had a release date (except HCS and TxHmL, see note 1).

The total of Current Interest List Counts in the above table is a duplicated count. The unduplicated count across all six Interest Lists is: 165,277.