First, thank you to the thousands of people in our communities who have already shared their input on the Life Outcome Improvement System (LOIS) project. You can get a recap of everyone’s input gathered at in-person town halls and online by watching the October 30th LOIS webinar. The last 5 minutes of the webinar talk about the next steps for the LOIS project.
LOIS will be a new, user-friendly online platform designed to make it easier for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, families, and service providers to manage services, access their info, and communicate with regional centers. It will replace the 45-year-old computer systems that authorize and manage services and track billions of dollars in funding each year.
Now What?
This month, the Department is releasing a Request for Information (RFI) to technology companies as the next step in developing LOIS. The RFI asks companies to share ideas, demonstrate potential tools, and help identify what it will take to build a modern system that meets the needs of individuals, families, service providers, and regional centers.
Using their responses and the input received from thousands of you, the Department will prepare state and federal project approval documents. While other state departments and the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services review and approve those documents, the Department and regional centers will improve data quality in our current systems.
Once those project documents are approved, a request for proposals will be released so companies can submit their formal proposals and price bids. A vendor will then be selected and approved. The real work to develop LOIS is expected to start in 2027.
After development and testing, LOIS will roll out to regional centers, individuals and families, and service providers. The goal is for LOIS to keep improving over time, based on input from you, the people who use it.
You can learn more about the project on the LOIS webpage. Additional ideas and feedback are always welcome at lois@dds.ca.gov.