Ms Pastoor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In this year’s budget debate for Seniors and Community Supports the minister stated that over the next three years all of the 9,200 people supported by Persons with Developmental Disabilities will be reassessed using the supports intensity scale, SIS, to determine how much support they receive. 

To the Minister of Seniors and Community Supports: what will be the total cost of performing the reassessment of PDD individuals, and will this be coming from the department’s budget or from the PDD community boards’ budget?

Mrs. Jablonski: Mr. Speaker, the cost of implementing the SIS supports assessment tool is very minimal. We did have to hire four people, but they’re hired temporarily to help us get through the next few years in the assessment process. The cost of the assessment will come from the PDD budget.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Pastoor: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the minister explain where the supports intensity scale came from and what the cost is of purchasing it and using it?

Mrs. Jablonski: Mr. Speaker, I understand that the cost for the SIS supports – the software that we have and the computer, the training, all of that – is very minimal. We did purchase it; I’m not sure what the name of the company is. The reason we purchased the SIS assessment tool is because it’s a very well-researched program. It’s used in 23 different states, and it’s used in two other provinces.

The Speaker: The hon. member.

Ms Pastoor: Thank you. I guess my point on that question was that I believe it’s American.

Will the minister inform the House how the level of PDD supports was determined before SIS and whether there’s an evaluation process to track the difference between the new SIS and the previous method?

Mrs. Jablonski: Mr. Speaker, once a person is determined to be eligible for PDD, there is an assessment process. We have six different regional community boards, and the evaluations they use have evolved throughout the years. They’re not necessarily the same, and they’re not necessarily consistent. We felt that it was very important that each individual in Alberta is assessed in a very consistent way, so we have a process now where somebody in Grande Prairie or a person with similar disabilities in Lethbridge can be assessed equally and fairly through the same system.

Alberta Hansard, February 22, 2010

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