Home-Enabling Supports NY

For HES agencies

HES for designated provider agencies

A plain-language reference for the designated HES agencies — and how to use this site and the forthcoming HES Assessment tool in your education, onboarding, and family conversations.

This hub isn't a compliance manual — OPWDD's guidance and your own procedures own that. It's a shared reference: the program in plain language, a neutral view of the technology, and tools you can lean on with new staff, with families, and (soon) when structuring the technology-fit conversation during your assessment.

What you'll find here

  • Plain-language explanations of eligibility, funding, and the three service categories to point families to.
  • A program overview you can hand to new staff instead of a stack of PDFs.
  • A neutral, capability-first directory of the technology vendors working in HES.
  • The forthcoming HES Assessment tool for structuring the technology-fit conversation.

A shared reference

How designated agencies can use this site

This isn't a compliance manual — OPWDD's guidance and your own procedures own that. It's a plain-language reference you can lean on in day-to-day work.

  • Point families to plain language

    Send individuals and families to clear explanations of eligibility, funding, and the three service categories, so first conversations start further along.

  • Onboard new staff

    Hand new team members a plain-language program overview instead of a stack of PDFs — then let them go deeper where they need to.

  • Prep for family conversations

    Work from the same language families see here, so expectations line up on both sides of the table.

  • Structure the technology conversation

    The forthcoming HES Assessment tool will help match a person's goals and living situation to candidate technology — a starting point for the fit conversation during your own assessment.

The tool

The HES Assessment tool

A browser-based tool that helps structure the technology-fit conversation — matching goals and living situation to candidate options. Nothing to install; nothing you enter leaves the device.

Coming soon

We're finishing the HES Assessment tool for the people running assessments. When it's ready, it will live at /tools/assessment. Until then, the technology vendor directory is a neutral, capability-first place to see what's available and what each option does.

Resources

HES Assessment tool (coming soon)

Will help structure the technology-fit conversation by goal and living situation.

Funding & costs

How HES pays for technology, the annual cap, and how acquisition draws on the PRA.

Frequently asked

Is this an official OPWDD resource?
No. This is an independent, plain-language guide. It doesn't replace OPWDD's guidance (ADM 2024-02) or your own procedures — use it as a reference, and confirm anything load-bearing with OPWDD.
How can our staff use it?
As a shared reference: plain-language explanations of eligibility, funding, and the three service categories for onboarding and family conversations, plus a neutral vendor directory for seeing what technology is available and what it does.
What will the HES Assessment tool do?
It will help structure the technology-fit conversation — matching a person's goals and living situation to candidate technology options. It runs in the browser with nothing to install, and it's coming soon.

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