Maine SIS-A Assessment and A Path for ME: What Families Need to Know

A New Way to Measure Support Needs in Maine

Maine's disability services system is adding a standardized needs assessment called the Supports Intensity Scale for Adults (SIS-A) to help determine what level of support each person receives. This assessment is central to the "A Path for ME" initiative — the state's broader effort to modernize how waiver services are allocated and funded.

For families, this change means the assessment your child goes through will directly influence their annual service budget and the types of supports available. Understanding how the SIS-A works isn't optional — it shapes everything downstream.

What the SIS-A Actually Measures

The SIS-A is a standardized interview-based tool that measures the practical support a person needs to participate in daily life. It doesn't measure ability, IQ, or diagnosis. It measures intensity of support across several domains:

• Home living activities (meal preparation, housekeeping, personal care)
• Community living activities (shopping, transportation, accessing services)
• Lifelong learning activities
• Employment activities
• Health and safety activities
• Social activities

The assessment also evaluates the frequency, duration, and type of support needed in each area. Someone who needs support for 15 minutes each morning to organize their medications scores differently than someone who needs continuous 24-hour supervision.

The key distinction from older evaluation methods: the SIS-A focuses on what support looks like in practice, not on what the person's clinical diagnosis predicts. Two individuals with the same diagnosis can receive very different SIS-A scores based on their actual functional needs.

Who Conducts the Assessment

Maine DHHS has contracted with Maximus, a national government services company, to administer SIS-A assessments for OADS participants. The SIS-A is designed to help determine support needs and inform service levels, tiered rates, annual monetary limits, and person-centered planning.

The Maximus assessment does not replace OADS's separate clinical eligibility determination. It is part of current Lifespan Waiver implementation, so a person applying for or already enrolled in relevant OADS developmental services may be scheduled for a SIS-A assessment as implementation proceeds.

How to Prepare

Because the SIS-A helps determine your child's support budget, preparation matters. A few practical steps:

Bring people who know your child's daily needs. The assessor will ask detailed questions about what support looks like across different settings. A parent, a direct support professional, or a day program coordinator who sees your child regularly can provide the specific examples the assessment captures.

Describe worst-case and typical scenarios. Parents sometimes understate needs during assessments because they've adapted so thoroughly that supports feel invisible. If you wake up at 5:30 AM to lay out your child's clothes, prepare their medications, and walk them through a morning routine — that's support. Name it. If your child can sometimes complete a task independently but fails without prompting 60% of the time, describe the 60%, not the 40%.

Document behavioral and medical support needs. The SIS-A has specific sections for exceptional medical and behavioral needs. If your child requires seizure monitoring, psychiatric medication management, or behavioral intervention, these areas can significantly affect the assessment score.

How It Connects to the Lifespan Waiver

The SIS-A assessment is the classification engine for Maine's upcoming Lifespan Waiver, branded as "A Path for ME," with a targeted CMS go-live date of May 1, 2027. The Lifespan Waiver will sort participants into four distinct groupings based on their assessed support needs, each with individualized annual budget caps.

This is a fundamental redesign. Instead of the current binary system — Section 29 for community support or Section 21 for comprehensive residential services — the Lifespan Waiver creates a spectrum. Your child's SIS-A score places them into a grouping that determines their budget ceiling and available service array.

The Lifespan Waiver also allows enrollment starting at age 14, which means younger students can begin building transition supports years before the current school-to-adult service cliff at age 22.

What If You Disagree with the Assessment

If you believe the SIS-A assessment doesn't accurately reflect your child's support needs — if the score places them in a lower grouping than their daily reality warrants — you have options:

Contact your OADS case manager immediately after receiving the results. Document specific areas where you believe the assessment understated support needs, with concrete examples. Request a reassessment if you can demonstrate that the initial interview missed significant support requirements (for example, if a key caregiver wasn't present during the assessment).

If OADS makes a service determination based on the SIS-A that you disagree with, you have 60 days from receipt of the certified decision letter to file an appeal and request an administrative hearing.

The Maine SSI at 18 & Adult Disability Benefits Guide includes the full OADS assessment and appeals timeline so you can track every step from the initial SIS-A through service authorization.

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