LIDDA Texas: What Your Local IDD Authority Does and How to Contact Yours

The Agency Most Texas Families Have Never Heard Of

If you are navigating disability services in Texas, there is a good chance you have been told to "contact your LIDDA" without anyone explaining what that means. LIDDA stands for Local Intellectual and Developmental Disability Authority. Every county in Texas is assigned one, and it is the single most important local agency for families who need Medicaid waiver services, community-based supports, or a spot on the HCS or TxHmL interest lists.

LIDDAs are not state offices. They are county-level public entities contracted by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to serve as the front door to the state's long-term care system for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

What a LIDDA Actually Does

Your LIDDA handles several functions that no other agency performs:

Interest list registration. When you want to get on the waiting list for the HCS (Home and Community-based Services) or TxHmL (Texas Home Living) Medicaid waivers, you contact your LIDDA. They complete Form 8648 (Identification of Preferences) and Form 8577 (LTSS Waiver Questionnaire) to register your family member on the Community Services Interest List (CSIL). The date your LIDDA enters the request — the "Request Date" — determines your place in line for a waiver slot.

Eligibility assessments. When a waiver slot finally opens (after years or decades of waiting), the LIDDA conducts the Determination of Intellectual Disability (DID) — a clinical evaluation verifying that the individual meets the diagnostic criteria (IQ of 69 or below, or IQ of 75 or below with severe adaptive deficits). They also complete the ID/RC assessment for Community First Choice eligibility.

Community First Choice intake. Community First Choice (CFC) is a Medicaid entitlement — no waitlist — for individuals who meet an Intermediate Care Facility level of care. For a person with an intellectual or developmental disability, the LIDDA is where you request the functional assessment; for a physical disability without IDD, the Medicaid managed care organization coordinates the assessment.

Biennial contact. Every two years, your LIDDA is contractually required to reach out to the primary correspondent on each interest list record. They verify that the family still wants services and update the mailing address in the CARE database. This contact is what keeps the record active.

Provider coordination. When a waiver slot is offered, the LIDDA helps the individual select a contracted program provider, develops the Person-Directed Plan (PDP), and coordinates the Individual Plan of Care (IPC) that authorizes service delivery.

How to Find Your LIDDA

Texas has 39 LIDDAs covering all 254 counties. Use the HHSC Services Locations directory at https://resources.hhs.texas.gov/directories to search by county or ZIP code and find the LIDDA's contact information.

Some of the largest LIDDAs include Metrocare Services (Dallas County), The Harris Center (Harris County), and Bluebonnet Trails Community Services (a multi-county authority covering parts of Central Texas). Rural counties are typically served by multi-county LIDDAs that cover large geographic areas.

The Biennial Contact That Protects Your Spot

This is the part that keeps families up at night. If your LIDDA sends a biennial contact letter and it comes back undeliverable — because you moved, because you forgot to update your address, because the post office returned it — HHSC protocols historically allowed the LIDDA to close your CSIL record. That means losing your place on the interest list entirely. For families who registered 10 or 15 years ago, that loss is devastating.

House Bill 3720 added a critical protection. Under the current rules, if you fail to respond to a written or verbal contact from HHSC or your LIDDA, your status is changed to "inactive" rather than removed. Your original Request Date is preserved. When you re-establish contact, the LIDDA restores your status to "active" and you keep your original chronological position.

That said, inactive status still means you will not be offered a waiver slot while inactive. The protection is against permanent removal, not against delays. Keeping your contact information current with your LIDDA remains essential.

What to Do If You Move Within Texas

Relocating does not mean starting over, but it does require an administrative handoff:

1. Notify your current (originating) LIDDA that you are moving.
2. The originating LIDDA updates the county of residence in the CARE database and transfers your completed Identification of Preferences forms to the receiving LIDDA.
3. The receiving LIDDA picks up your record with the original interest list begin date intact.

If the handoff does not happen correctly — and administrative errors do occur — ask the LIDDA to submit Form 8571 (Request to Change Interest List Information) to request a backdate correction.

When to Contact Your LIDDA

• By age 14: Get on the HCS and TxHmL interest lists as early as possible. There is no diagnostic or financial eligibility requirement to join an interest list — it is a holding place based on your request date. The earlier you register, the shorter the remaining wait.
• Immediately after any address change: Update your contact information so biennial letters reach you.
• When your child turns 18: Request a Community First Choice functional assessment if your child needs attendant care or habilitation services and you are still waiting for a waiver slot.
• When you receive a slot offer: Respond immediately. Waiver slots are time-limited, and the LIDDA must complete eligibility verification, provider selection, and plan development before services can start.

For a full walkthrough of how LIDDAs fit into the age-18 transition — including how to coordinate interest list registration with the SSI redetermination and supported decision-making — see the Texas SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide.

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