Lifespan State Tour in July 2026 is Complete
Thank you everyone who participated in our statewide tour, which included five stops across Maine: Bangor, Caribou, Augusta, Lewiston, and Portland.
Our team is now back in the office and processing all of the questions and feedback we received over the course of the week.
Here are the links to the presentations:
Providers Sessions
Individuals, Families, Advocates Sessions
The DHHS Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS), the Office of Behavioral Health's Children's Behavioral Health Services, and the Office of MaineCare Services (OMS), are working together on an exciting new waiver. We are developing a new Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) option to support Maine people living with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) and/or Autism to meet their changing needs as they transition through various stages of life.
The goals of the waiver include assisting individuals with IDD and/or Autism and their families in ways that:
- Offer more flexibility to address goals and needs that naturally change across the lifespan.
- Improve transition and in-home support services to support a successful transition from childhood to adulthood.
- Use new ideas that work to support access to innovative services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.
Project Milestones
This page will be the central hub for information about the HCBS Lifespan project, including interested party engagement forums and other ways to be involved in the project’s development.
Next Steps:
- Submission and review by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Waiver approval by CMS
- Go-Live Date - May 1, 2027
Lifespan Waiver Overview Webinar (5/8/2026)
Lifespan Comment Period (now closed)
- Lifespan Waiver Application Submission 1915(c):
- Lifespan Waiver Fee-for-Service (FFS) Selective Contracting Program Submission 1915 b4:
Lifespan Reimbursement Rates
A rate study that has been underway since fall 2023 was released at a public hearing on April 14, 2025. For more information on the hearing, the rate structure, a recording of that hearing, rates comments and the posting of final rates, follow these instructions:
- Visit the MaineCare Rate System Reform page.
- Click the dropdown for the section “CY 2024 Rate Determination – Completed”.
- Scroll to the table with the header: 18, 20, 21, 29, HCBS for Individuals with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities or Autism & New Lifespan Waiver.
More About the Focus on Youth in Transition, Ages 14-21
We have consistently received feedback that youth and their families need assistance navigating from high school transition services to adult services provided by OADS.
For more information, please visit the Transition Planning webpage.
A Path for ME SIS-A™ Assessment and Person-Centered Planning
Closely linked to the Lifespan project is the implementation of a new needs assessment for Maine people living with IDD and Autism. This is expected to provide high-quality, reliable, and consistent information about the support needs of waiver members and those on the waitlist. This information will help shape how the Lifespan project is designed, along with a primary focus on identifying the strengths of individuals with IDD, their families, and their communities. This will be done through strengths-based Person-Centered Planning, which will focus on helping people with intellectual and developmental disabilities achieve the lives they want and be valued members of their communities.
Learn more about A Path for ME SIS-A™ Assessment
Learn more about the new approach to strengths-based Person-Centered Planning
Contact Us
Please send us your questions, comments, or feedback to: OADS.LifespanProject@maine.gov