Developmental Disabilities Administration Processes and Staffing
25-04 final report | May 2025
Amanda Eadrick, Joshua Karas, Suzanna Pratt, Stephanie Seto, Melanie Stidham, research analysts
Ryan McCord, audit director; Eric Thomas, legislative auditor
Legislative Auditor's conclusion
The Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) has not analyzed how well key processes serve clients or used best practices to determine case manager staffing levels.
Key points
- DDA is charged with helping people who have developmental disabilities access services in their community.
- DDA has not systematically analyzed how well its process helps people become clients and access services. Clients say the process can be long and confusing.
- DDA's case management approach prioritizes client assessments and planning over service connection and monitoring.
- DDA lacks adequate procedures, documentation, and quality reviews to ensure its published data is accurate and reliable.
- DDA's approach to determining the appropriate case manager to client ratio is not based on workforce planning best practices.
Legislative Auditor’s recommendations
The Legislative Auditor makes three recommendations.
Recommendation #1
DDA should develop and use performance metrics to evaluate how well its process works for clients and improve timeliness.
DDA should adopt performance metrics that will allow it to make targeted improvements to the application/eligibility, needs assessment, and service access steps. As best practices state, DDA should first understand its current performance and then measure performance on an ongoing basis. Metrics should include measures on consistency and timeliness of the process steps, such as how long it takes a client to receive a determination from when they apply, how long assessments take, and how long it takes for clients to connect to a service. Metrics could consider processes by demographics, location, and preferred language, among other factors DDA deems necessary. DDA should use the metrics for ongoing evaluation and update them as needed. Once DDA understands its timeliness performance, it should publicly communicate timelines to applicants, clients, and interested groups so they understand how long the processes take.
DDA should adopt performance metrics by June 2026, with the full system operational by June 2027.
Legislation Required: None
Fiscal Impact: JLARC staff assume this can be completed within existing resources. If DDA believes additional resources are needed, it should include that information in its future budget requests.
Implementation Date: June 2027
Agency Response: DDA concurs.
Recommendation #2
DDA should implement quality controls to ensure the reliability and accuracy of data used for reporting and performance management.
DDA should create policies and procedures to ensure the agency is reporting accurate data. Resources within DSHS can help DDA with quality control review. Also, Washington's Office of Financial Management and Washington Technology Solutions (WATech) have issued guidance documents for state agencies related to data management.
Legislation Required: None
Fiscal Impact: None
Implementation Date: December 2025
Agency Response: DDA concurs.
Recommendation #3
DDA should use a workforce planning approach to determine the number of case managers and other staff it needs.
DDA should create a workforce plan using workforce planning best practices. Agencies use workforce planning to identify the human resources they need to meet goals and objectives. DDA should first determine the tasks required to fulfill the four elements of case management discussed in Part 4. It should then determine how case managers currently spend their time. To develop its workforce plan, DDA could use a method similar to its 1999 workload study, or a different approach. DDA can then analyze the gap between ideal and current performance. Based on that information, DDA should develop caseload ratios and a workforce plan specifying the tasks, performance, and resources needed to achieve ideal performance.
Legislation Required: None
Fiscal Impact: Depending on the approach DDA takes, it could be completed within existing resources, or it may need additional resources. If DDA believes additional resources are needed, it should include that information in its future budget requests.
Implementation Date: December 2026
Agency Response: DDA concurs.
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