What happens when
The directive sets a deadline for nearly every step, counted from the day it was issued, 14 October 2026. Here are the fixed dates, the steps that follow for any provider that falls short, and the earliest any of it could reach a family.
Last reviewed 16 October 2026
The fixed dates
These follow directly from the directive: the issue date plus the number of calendar days it states.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 14 Oct 2026 | Directive issued. From today, anyone applying to become an SDP FMS provider applies to San Diego Regional Center through the DDS Provider Directory, and must meet the standards before approval. |
| 13 Nov 2026 30 days |
Regional centers with applications already in progress elsewhere must tell SDRC and hand them over; they continue at the stage they had reached. Regional centers whose boards require more insurance than SDRC's limits must notify SDRC and DDS if they want to keep applying it. |
| 28 Nov 2026 45 days |
Deadline for every existing provider to send SDRC its completed review checklist, supporting documents and any program design changes. SDRC runs a preliminary review of everything received, and the first review group begins. |
| 12 Jan 2027 at the latest |
The first review group's review ends — reviews may not run longer than 45 days. The next group starts immediately, and so on until every provider has been reviewed. |
DDS has not said which providers are in which group, or how many groups there will be — only that each holds at least six providers. With each review lasting up to 45 days and running one after another, the full process will take several months into 2027. A provider being reviewed later is not a sign of anything.
What happens to each provider
If it meets the standards
- Within five business days of the review starting, SDRC writes to the provider and its original regional center confirming the review and when it ends.
- At the end of the review, SDRC decides, and tells them within five business days.
- The transfer to SDRC takes effect on the first day of the month that begins at least 30 days after the decision. Until then nothing changes.
- The provider keeps its vendor number. Its original regional center becomes a “user” regional center like every other.
Nothing happens to you. You will not get a letter, and you do not need to do anything.
If it falls short, or sent nothing
| Step | Deadline in the directive |
|---|---|
| SDRC tells the provider's original regional center, and every regional center that uses the provider, what was not met and what must be fixed | Within 2 business days of finishing the review |
| The original regional center tells the provider in writing. The 30-day correction period starts | Within 3 business days of SDRC's findings |
| Your regional center writes to you — the correction-period letter | Within 5 business days of the correction period starting |
| The provider fixes everything, or does not | 30 calendar days from the regional center's notice |
| If not: the original regional center sends a termination notice by registered mail, stating the violation and the termination date | After SDRC confirms it is still out of compliance. SDRC separately denies the transfer, with appeal rights |
| Your regional center writes to you — the termination letter | Within 5 business days of being told |
| Vendorization ends — unless, in the meantime, the provider says it will correct the problem or files an appeal | 30 calendar days after the termination notice |
| If it does not end after all, your regional center writes to you again | About 7 business days from the outcome |
A provider that sent nothing by 28 November is treated as though it had been reviewed and failed on that date, and goes straight into this sequence.
The earliest it could reach families
These are our calculations, not dates DDS has published. They take each step at its full allowed time, no more and no less, and ignore holidays. Real dates could be earlier or later. Treat them as a sense of scale.
- Mid-December 2026. If a provider sent nothing by 28 November, the chain above could put a correction-period letter in its participants' hands by about 11 December 2026, with the correction period running to early January.
- Late January 2027. For a provider in the first review group that falls short, correction-period letters would follow the end of that review, which is 12 January at the latest.
- February 2027 at the earliest for any provider's vendorization to actually end — 30 days of correction, then 30 more after the termination notice, and longer still if the provider appeals.
- February or March 2027 for the first providers that pass to complete their transfer to SDRC.
In every case, your provider has to keep paying for everything in your spending plan until you leave it or its vendorization actually ends, and you can move to another provider at any point along the way without waiting for any of this to finish.