Iowa Disability Access Points: The New DAP System Replacing MHDS Regions

What Changed on July 1, 2025

Iowa's Mental Health and Disability Services (MHDS) regions — the county-based system that had managed local disability services for years — were formally replaced by seven district-level Disability Access Points (DAPs) on July 1, 2025. The DAPs are the new front door for non-Medicaid-funded disability services statewide.

This matters if you are navigating the adult disability system, especially during a waiver waitlist period. The DAPs control access to Short-Term Supports and Services (STSS), crisis intervention, and other district-funded resources that fill the gap while your family waits for a Medicaid HCBS waiver slot.

The Seven DAP Districts

Iowa HHS awarded contracts to four entities that now operate across seven districts:

Western Iowa Service Collaborative covers Districts 1 and 4, serving the western counties from the Missouri River corridor through central western Iowa.

Collaborative Individual and Community Support covers Districts 2, 3, and 6, spanning the northern tier and parts of central Iowa.

Polk County Behavioral Health and Disability Services covers District 5, centered on the Des Moines metropolitan area and surrounding counties.

Eastern Iowa Disability Alliance covers District 7, serving the eastern counties including the Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and Quad Cities corridors.

Your district assignment is determined by county of residence. If you are unsure which district covers your county, contact Iowa HHS Disability Services directly — the district map was finalized in the February 2025 intent-to-award announcement.

What DAPs Actually Fund

DAPs are not a replacement for Medicaid waiver services. They fund a narrower set of supports using state and local dollars, specifically targeting individuals who are not yet on a waiver or whose needs fall outside Medicaid coverage.

The primary DAP-funded service for families in the transition period is Short-Term Supports and Services (STSS), which includes respite care, crisis stabilization, and short-duration supports designed to prevent institutionalization while a person waits for waiver enrollment.

DAPs also coordinate referrals to other community resources, provide information about waiver applications and eligibility pathways, and can connect families to local crisis response teams when behavioral or medical situations escalate beyond what the family can manage at home.

How to Request Services From Your DAP

Contact your district's DAP directly. DAP services use a district intake rather than the Medicaid waiver intake. Ask the DAP what information or assessments it requires to determine what services are appropriate and available.

Be specific about what you need. "Respite care" is a broad category — specify how many hours per week, what time of day, and what level of supervision the individual requires. The more concrete your request, the faster the DAP can match you with available providers.

If you are currently on the HCBS waiver waitlist, make sure the DAP knows your waitlist status. Some DAP-funded services are specifically designed as bridge supports for individuals waiting for waiver enrollment, and your waitlist position may affect priority.

How DAPs Fit Into the Bigger Picture

The DAP system is one piece of Iowa's broader disability service restructuring. The HOME waiver redesign consolidated diagnosis-based waivers into needs-based programs. CareStar replaced Telligen as the independent assessor. And the DAPs replaced MHDS regions as the local service coordination entity.

For families navigating the SSI age-18 redetermination alongside all of this, the sequencing of federal applications, state Medicaid enrollment, waiver waitlist management, and DAP service requests needs to happen in a specific order. The Iowa SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide walks through the full timeline so each step builds on the last instead of creating administrative conflicts.

See more Iowa guides →