What IDGS is for
Individual Directed Goods and Services covers goods, services and supports that are not traditionally funded by Medicaid but are directly related to the person's valued outcomes. That definition is doing all the work. "Directly related to valued outcomes" is the test every request has to pass, and the outcomes in question are the ones written in the Life Plan.
The cap
Total IDGS expenditure is limited to $32,000 annually, or the person's Personal Resource Account, whichever is less, with further annual caps on specific categories within it — for example, clinical consultation under Family Education and Training pricing carries its own $500 annual cap. Figures are revised over time, so confirm against the current IDGS Definitions Chart before planning.
The split families need to understand
Generally fundable, with justification
- Community classes that teach a specific subject linked to goals — art, dance, exercise, cooking, computer training
- Memberships where the purpose is community inclusion tied to an outcome
- Goods that support a documented skill or safety need not met elsewhere
- Items that reduce a specific, described risk
- Supports that replace something a paid staff member would otherwise be doing
Not allowable in IDGS
- Cell phone service — but see the note below
- Computer hardware
- Leased and purchased vehicles
- Experimental therapies — not in any clinical category, and not in OTPS either
- Academic tutoring — the school district or college owns that
- Activity fees, expenses and meals — for parents, for staff, and for the participant themselves
- Health-related services, equipment and supplies — State Plan funded, not IDGS
- Direct clinician therapies: PT, OT, speech, psychology — Medicaid State Plan
- Items or services from a vendor presenting a conflict of interest
Phones are the one families get wrong in both directions
Cell phone service is not an allowable IDGS expense — but phone service, cell and/or land line, is a category within OTPS (Other Than Personal Services). So the answer to "can our budget cover a phone?" is not a flat no; it is "not through IDGS, ask about OTPS." Other resources must be explored first, and OPWDD specifically notes SafeLink Wireless, which provides a phone and limited free minutes to New Yorkers with a developmental disability receiving SSI.
Similarly, computer hardware is out of IDGS, and computer software may be available through Assistive Technology — outside the Self-Direction budget altogether.
The exclusion that causes most disappointment is activity fees and meals. It is broader than families expect: not just the parent's costs on an outing, but staff costs and the self-directing person's own activity fees and related supplies, even for a funded community class. And academic tutoring is consistently pushed back to the education system — if your child needs reading support, that argument belongs with the school district. Our IEP and CSE toolkit is the better route for that.
Community classes, specifically
The Community Class category exists to improve and maintain community inclusion and integration by reimbursing publicly available classes that teach a specific subject related to a person's needs and goals. Each word there matters.
| Requirement | What it means in practice | Where requests fail |
|---|---|---|
| Publicly available | Open to the general community, not a segregated programme | Classes in a setting accessed only by people with I/DD — including all certified settings — are excluded. A specialised class that allows for physical limitations or beginner-level learning is fine provided it is open to the broader public. |
| Teaches a subject | There is instruction and something is learned | A gym membership with no instruction is not a class |
| Related to needs and goals | Connected to an outcome in the Life Plan | "He enjoys it" is not a justification on its own |
| Within the cap | Category limits apply on top of the overall IDGS ceiling | Annual totals quietly breaching a category cap |
How to write a request that gets approved
Start from the outcome, not the item
Name the valued outcome in the Life Plan, then explain how this specific thing serves it. Requests written the other way round read as shopping.
Say what changes
Concretely. "Will attend a weekly cooking class and prepare two meals independently by the end of the plan year" beats "will improve independence."
Show what you checked first
Which other funder was asked, and what they said. Checking other sources before using the budget is an explicit broker duty; evidencing it pre-empts the obvious query.
Attach a real price
A quote, a published fee, a link. Round numbers invite questions.
Check it against the definitions chart
OPWDD publishes an IDGS definitions chart. Read the relevant row before submitting rather than discovering it in a query six weeks later.
A useful sanity test
If the same item would be a normal household purchase for a family without a disability — a phone, a games console, a streaming subscription, a holiday — assume it is out unless there is a specific, documented, disability-related reason that makes it a support rather than a purchase. That reason has to be written down, not implied.
Tracking it through the year
Your Fiscal Intermediary tracks disbursements and balances and provides monthly statements. Read them. The two failures that turn up at renewal are spending that quietly breached a category cap, and an IDGS allocation that was never spent at all — which is an argument for reducing it next year unless you can explain what stopped you.
Questions families actually ask
Can IDGS pay for a phone or a tablet?
Not through IDGS — cell phone service is not an allowable IDGS expense and computer hardware is excluded outright. But phone service, cell or land line, is a category within OTPS, so ask about that instead. Other sources must be explored first, including SafeLink Wireless for people receiving SSI. Get the answer for your specific request from your Liaison in writing before you buy anything.
Can we use IDGS for a summer camp?
Camps are sometimes fundable where they serve a documented outcome and are not simply recreation, and sometimes not. It turns on the justification and the category. Check the IDGS definitions chart and ask before you pay a deposit.
What if the class my child wants is not publicly available?
Raise it with your broker before submitting. A class run exclusively for people with disabilities may be treated differently from one open to the community, because the category is written around integration.
We did not spend our whole IDGS allocation. Does it roll over?
Do not assume it does. Ask your Fiscal Intermediary how unspent allocation is treated in your budget and what happens at renewal — consistently unspent lines tend to get reduced.
Where this comes from
Written from the OPWDD source documents below and reviewed against them on 23 September 2026. OPWDD policy and figures change; confirm anything that affects a decision with your Care Manager or your DDRO Self-Direction Liaison before acting on it.
Keep reading
Not sure where you are in this process?
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