SAGE Resources, housed within the Human Services Research Institute, provides specialty consultation and analysis to policy makers interested in establishing person-centered budget allocations for people with developmental disabilities.

Our work centers on assessing individual support needs in a systematic fashion to set personal budgets that reflect the assessed levels of need and that conform to the level of funding available.  We seek to assure that individuals are allocated the level of resources that they need, no more and no less.  In addition, we seek to assure that personal budgets and the reimbursement rates paid to service providers are aligned.  Service rates should be fair and sufficient to meet the needs of individuals.

The development of person-centered budget allocations that are tied to systematic assessments of need provides a valuable tool to policy makers for improving services and making service systems more efficient.  Person-centered budgets can also be used to promote other policy goals, such as helping individuals to have more authority over the services they receive and to live “self-directed” lives, and to encourage provider networks to become more agile and responsive to individual service needs.

Today, more than ever, policymakers need to ensure that scarce resources are allocated in the most efficient and equitable ways possible.  In helping to establish person-centered budgets, SAGE Resources strives to provide state agencies and others with the expert consultation and analysis necessary to achieve this goal.