Several researchers have made recommendations for changes in policy and practice, some of which were incorporated in the 2012 Taskforce report discussed above and/or in legislation, but few of which have actually been implemented. (See Recommendations section below).
METHODS The data analyzed for this report was primarily taken from the following regional centers’ subreports:
“Total Annual Expenditures and Authorized Services by Ethnicity or Race” – Fiscal Years 2011-2012 through 2015-2016
“Total Annual Expenditures and Authorized Services by Ethnicity or Race for Resident Type: Home” - Fiscal Years 2015-2016 and 2014-2015
“Total Annual Expenditures and Authorized Services by Language for Resident Type: Home” - Fiscal Years 2015-2016 and 2014-2015
“Consumers with No Services by Ethnicity or Race” and “Consumers with No Services by Language” – Fiscal Years 2015-2016 and 2014-201520
Data taken from the online reports were placed onto an Excel spreadsheet and checked multiple times for input accuracy. Percentages independently derived from the regional centers’ data reports were primarily provided in tenths, i.e., 57.3 %. For any data analyzed where the relevant sub-population of consumers consisted of less than 4.0%, that data was suppressed from the report to prevent skewed results. The main sets of analyses included in this report are:
Per capita POS authorizations for all age groups for Fiscal Years 2015-2016 and 20142015, analyzing for association with the combined percentages of Black/AfricanAmerican and Hispanic consumers
Per capita POS authorizations for all age groups for all reported fiscal years, from 20112012 to 2015-2016
Per capita POS authorizations for children ages 0-2 and 3-21 by race/ethnicity and language, living in the home, for fiscal years 2015-2016 and 2014-2015
Although we analyzed the data for consumers with no services, we did not include the analysis here in our main report. The differences in the data across regional centers do not appear to be associated with racial and linguistic disparities but, rather, with the effectiveness in the particular regional center’s ability to deliver services to its populations generally. Nevertheless, we are including our analysis of consumers with no services at Appendix I. 20
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