Tailored Care Management for Williams & Colbert Class Members

The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) is hosting a listening session to solicit input on how to optimize the experience of Class Members who receive State services pursuant to the Williams and Colbert Consent Decrees. These Class Members include adults who wish to transition from either Illinois Specialized Mental Health Rehabilitation Facilities or Cook County nursing facilities to community-based living.  

Class Members who receive State services pursuant to the Williams and Colbert Consent Decrees as well as the providers health plans, advocates, and other stakeholders who serve them.  Medicaid customers with disabilities and/or complex service needs may also be particularly interested in attending. 

Advance registration is required. Please use the following link to register: https://illinois.webex.com/weblink/register/rbde23de5b4b08fa0cd0236eb23bb222d. The meeting link and dial-in number will be emailed upon registration. Please note that the listening session will be recorded and published on the Department’s website.

HFS is seeking feedback on how current transition programs and services are working and where attendees see opportunities for improvement. Along with other information the State has been gathering – including insight from Class Members themselves – this feedback will inform the State's approach to designing and implementing an integrated, person-centered transition program with a single point of accountability to improve service coordination, service delivery, and outcomes for Class Members. 

Upon registering, please email HFS.Boards.and.Commissions@Illinos.gov with the following subject line – Request to Provide Public Comment on W&C Tailored Care Management – to state your intent to speak during the listening session. Please include your name, title and organization (if applicable), email address, contact number, and the topic area you wish to provide public comment on in your email. All requests to provide comments must be received by 5:00 PM on Friday, August 1, 2025. Each speaker will be provided with no more than 3 minutes to provide public comments during the listening session. HFS will accommodate as many comments as possible

Additionally, interested parties may also provide written comments to the Department in lieu of speaking during the meeting. Comments will be read into the record by HFS.

Comments must be short in length and not exceed 3 minutes when read during the listening session. Please email HFS.Boards.and.Commissions@Illinois.gov with the following subject line: Request to Provide Written Comment on W&C Tailored Care Management. Please include your name, title and organization (if applicable), email address, contact number, and the topic area you wish to provide written comment on in your email by 5:00 PM on Friday, August 1, 2025. 

For those who are unable to attend or do not want to participate in the virtual listening session, but would like to provide written comments, please visit the Tailored Care Management for Williams & Colbert Class Members page on the HFS website to submit your written comments using the web portal. All written comments must be received by 11:59 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025. 

HFS welcomes comments explaining your experience with:

• The service planning process.
• Pre-transition preparation.
• Housing supports, including pre-tenancy and housing locator services, moving services, and tenancy-sustaining supports.
• Services to connect Class Members to benefits such as disability income (e.g.,SSI/SSDI) and food and nutrition benefits (e.g., SNAP).
• Services and supports available after transition to the community, such as home and community-based waivers and community services for mental health and substance use recovery.

This session is not a forum for HFS to receive individual complaints about specific healthcare providers or service plans. It is also not the proper forum for HFS to receive information from a vendor about its supplies, services, and operating models.

Regardless of how feedback is provided, note that it later may be shared outside of HFS pursuant to HFS’s obligations under FOIA, the Procurement Code, and current or future litigation. Therefore, comments should not include personal health information or other details commenters wish to remain private. 

HFS is committed to ensuring that this listening session meets the access needs of all participants. Please contact HFS.Boards.and.Commissions@Illinois.gov with any disability access requests as early as possible. Please use the following subject line in your email: Request for Disability Support for W&C Tailored Care Management Listening Session. 

WebEx tips:

• We strongly encourage participants to use the WebEx link to attend the listening session to access all the accessibility functions and capabilities during the meeting. The WebEx will offer:
  • Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) captioning.
  • A Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI)/Deaf Interpreter (DI).
  • Real-time language interpretation (Spanish and additional languages as requested).
  • Automated closed captioning with real-time translation into 100+ languages.
  • Compatibility with most assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers).

Participants joining by WebEx may only use the chat function to communicate with the meeting host and/or co-host.

If joining by phone, please email HFS.Boards.and.Commissions@Illinois.gov by 8:00 AM on August 4, 2025 with the following subject line – Request for W&C Tailored Care Management Listening Session Materials – to receive the meeting materials.