The Columbus Organization Announces Completion of Statewide Coverage for Waiver Support Coordination

WAYNE, Pa., Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Columbus Organization, a nationally recognized provider of care coordination services for individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and the largest support coordination organization in Florida, is pleased to announce that it has expanded its service in support coordination to the Southern and Southeastern APD Regions. In May 2020 Columbus opened its services to supports in the Palm Beach and Broward counties and in July 2020 expanded again into the Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. Columbus now is open to supporting all six APD Regions in Florida providing support coordination.  This expansion is particularly important in light of the signing of Florida Senate Bill 82 (SB82).  The bill requires the APD to reform waiver support coordination by mandating that support coordinators throughout the state be employed by a provider agency as of July 1, 2021.  In response to this significant change, Columbus continues to offer an excellent opportunity for independent waiver support coordinators to join The Columbus Organization and seamlessly continue their work.

To oversee this growth in size and capability, Columbus appointed Lynda DeBenedet to the position of Director of Program Development.  Patti Rendon, recently appointed Executive Director for the State of Florida for Columbus, stated: "We set out to be the leading provider of support coordination in Florida.  We've already accomplished this goal by individuals covered, and now we've achieved true statewide ability to serve our population.  This is the underpinning to our overall goal of elevating the standards for support coordination, giving our individuals the most meaningful, productive, healthy, person-centered lives possible.  With Lynda as a dedicated resource for program development, we will continue to advance our mission.  I'm very excited about the potential and capabilities we will offer the state of Florida and the persons we serve."

Carlos Hernandez, Senior Vice President of the Care Coordination business at The Columbus Organization, commented: "We set out to achieve a vision of being recognized as the #1 agency in terms of quality and families served.  While providing value to individuals through an improved quality of life, we are also providing value to the payor through enhanced health, well-being, and productivity.  These additional investments will secure our ability to accomplish this in an accelerated time frame.  As COVID-19 squeezes budgets, we believe this strategy becomes more critical now than ever."

ABOUT THE COLUMBUS ORGANIZATION
The Columbus Organization empowers individuals to realize their meaningful-life goals through nationally recognized care coordination, professional clinical staffing, and quality improvement services for the intellectual/developmental disability (IDD) or behavioral needs community.  Leveraging an unmatched depth of expertise, breadth of resources, diversity of thinking, and dedication to finding the most appropriate, personalized solutions for clients, Columbus provides a wide array of services specifically for families, individuals and the organizations that support them.  For more information on Columbus, visit www.columbusorg.com.

ABOUT HEALTHEDGE INVESTMENT PARTNERS
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Media Contact
Abbott Holdsman
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SOURCE The Columbus Organization