LINCOLN- Nearly a year after Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen announced plans to eliminate the state’s waiting list for individuals seeking intellectual and developmental disability services, state officials say they have whittled the list by nearly two-thirds. The state, Pillen said last March, was taking a new approach to “reimagine how services are offered to individuals with IDD in Nebraska and save taxpayer dollars.”

As of mid-February, the number of individuals on the list stood at about 940, down from just more than 2,700 at the time the governor made his announcement, according to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Recently, Tony Green, NDHHS developmental disabilities director, said the agency now expects to eliminate the list by July, three months ahead of schedule.

But while families, providers, and advocates say the state is making progress, the transition has raised ongoing concerns that some might lose services or not be able to access them when they need them, particularly as the state seeks to adopt a new tool for assessing needs.

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