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Residential Support/Medicaid

Projects
Below is a list of the RTC's active projects in the area of residential support/medicaid. For more information, see the contact person(s) for each project.
CMS Direct Support Worker Technical Assistance
RTC staff will work with the Lewin Group to deliver technical assistance to the 10 grantees who received direct support workforce systems change grants from CMS. The project will include activities such as RTC staff participating in an orientation training event at CMS, participating in an annual systems change conference at CMS and the delivery of telephone, e-mail and written technical assistance activities to the 10 DSW grantees.
Project Contact: Amy Hewitt (hewit005@umn.edu)

Related Publications:
  •CMS Direct Service Workforce Demonstration Promising Practices in Marketing, Recruitment and Selection Interventions (PDF) - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated a demonstration project to improve the Direct Service Community Workforce to test the effectiveness of different workforce interventions on the retention and recruitment of Direct Service Workers (DSWs). This report identifies promising practices in direct service worker marketing, recruitment, and selection across the CMS grantees. Under a contract to provide technical assistance to the DSW grantees in collaboration with The Lewin Group (Lewin), the Research and Training Center developed this report. (2006); File Size: 401 KB


Consumer Controlled Housing: Outcomes of a Comprehensive Education and Counseling Program
This study will provide ongoing evaluation from consumers and will develop programs and products to promote the ideals and support informed decision making in a multi-agency consumer-controlled housing initiative.
National Evaluation of Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (subcontract from the Lewin Group)
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) through Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, regulation, and certification directly and indirectly affects the majority of the long-term care workforce. During FY2003, CMS took on a more prominent leadership role in addressing community-based long-term care workforce shortages through the solicitation of 7 to 10 Direct Service Community Workforce Demonstration projects. The Lewin Group, Institute for the Future of Aging Services (LFAS) and The Center on Community Living/Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota are performing an “Evaluation of Contract Demonstration to Improve the Direct Service Community Workforce.” This project requires a qualitative assessment of implementation readiness and progress to identify and describe Promising Practices, technical assistance to grantees on local evaluation designs, and the development of a quantitative evaluation design to assess demonstration program effectiveness.
National Residential Information Systems Project and Policy Studies
For over 20 years, the National Residential Information Systems Project has been collecting and disseminating annually, national and state statistics on public and private residential services, Medicaid program utilization, expenditures, etc.

Related Publications:
  •2006 RISP Report (PDF) (2007); File Size: 24.4 MB

  •2005 RISP Report (PDF) (2006); File Size: 1.03 MB

  •2004 RISP Report (PDF) (2005); File Size: 1.88 MB

  •2003 RISP Report (PDF) (2004); File Size: .98 MB

  •2002 RISP Report (PDF) (2003); File Size: 1.11 MB

  •2001 RISP Report (PDF) (2002); File Size: 1.83 MB

  •2000 RISP Report (PDF) (2001); File Size: 1.57 MB


Participatory Research, Analysis and Consensus-Building of Guidelines for Community Quality Assurance and Individual Protections
Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) is the primary national program to support long-term care for persons with ID/DD. Amidst its rapid growth a recent General Accounting Office report noted reason for national concern about the quality of quality assurance (QA) in community services and what should be expected of system defining in community services. This project will gather and analyze survey, interview, document and focus group data about current systems of states and the federal regions for monitoring, expecting and promoting quality as part of a Participatory Action Research study by the Developmental Disabilities Quality Consortium (8 national ID/DD organizations) evaluate, and offer and advocate for policy and program guidelines for community quality assurance.
Status and Trends in Family Support Services in the US
This study will gather data in two surveys, in 2004 and 2006, on family support services in the 50 states and D.C. Data analyzed will include revenue, spending, and participant data for cash subsidy payments directly to families, and other family supports including respite care, in-home supports, counseling and other services. Data analysis and dissemination activities will address family support spending and numbers of families served in the past decade, family support spending in comparison to total ID/DD long-term care spending, and the level of Medicaid HCBS support for family support services in each state and the US.
Project Contact: Rick Hemp (rick.hemp@cu.edu)

Status, Trends, and Innovations in Medicaid Support for Community Services
This project integrates Medicaid HCBS (“waiver”), ICF/MR, and Nursing Facility data collection and national data systems of the RTC/CL Minnesota and Colorado programs to maintain a national and state-by-state program of current information on status and trends in Medicaid and related programs that finance and support access to community services. (Activities in this area are co-sponsored by the Administration on Developmental Disabilities and by the Universities of Minnesota and Colorado.)
Emergency Preparedness Planning for Developmental Disabilities Services: NASDDDS Self-Assessment Instrument
The National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS), in conjunction with the Research and Training Center, Institute on Community Integration at the University of Minnesota is developing an emergency preparedness self-assessment instrument for state developmental disabilities agencies. The new self-assessment tool is being constructed to assist member state agency officials evaluate the extent to which their existing preparedness plans are able to address the unique characteristics of individuals receiving support through publicly funded developmental disabilities programs.
Project Contact: Pat Salmi (salm0054@umn.edu)
Project Personnel: K. Charlie Lakin (lakin001@umn.edu)

Minnesota Quality Assurance Panel
The Minnesota State Legislature convened a committee, the Quality Assurance Panel, to study the efficacy of establishing regional quality assurance and improvement models in Minnesota. The Department of Human Services asked the Research and Training Center (RTC) on Community Living and the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) to provide assistance to the Panel. The Quality Assurance Panel recommended that Minnesota establish a State Quality Commission to provide leadership on quality improvement activities and review quality outcomes at the state level, Regional Quality Councils to review quality outcomes at a regional level and to identify and implement initiatives to improve those outcomes. The QA Panel also recommended that Minnesota conduct an annual independent statewide sample of service recipients, an outcome-based quality assessment program, and an updated effective program of incident reporting, investigation and analysis.
Project Personnel: K. Charlie Lakin (lakin001@umn.edu)

Related Publications:
  •Quality Assurance Panel Proposed Legislation - DRAFT (PDF) - This is a draft of the legisltation proposed by th Minnesota Quality Assurance Panel (2007); File Size: 13 KB

  •Minnesota Quality Assurance Panel Interviews with Counties Final Report (PDF) - This report summarizes the results of interviews with county officials in Minnesota regarding their quality assurance efforts. These interviews addressed both current practices as well as recommendations for improvements to the quality assurance infrastructure at the local, regional and state levels. (2007); File Size: 47 KB

  •Minnesota Statewide Quality Assurance Activities by Service Type (PDF) - The Minnesota Quality Assurance Panel examined existing quality assurance activities in Minnesota before developing its recommendations for revisions to this system. This document is a summary of the information collected by the Panel about the various QA activities. (2007); File Size: 126 KB

  •Quality Assurance in Minnesota 2007 - Final Report (PDF) - Findings and Recommendations of the Legislatively-Mandated Quality Assurance Panel (2007); File Size: 350 KB

  •Quality Assurance 2007 - Executive Summary (PDF) - Report to the Minnesota Legislature on the Findings and Recommendations of the Legislatively-Mandated Quality Assurance Panel (2007); File Size: 283 KB

  •Proposed Outcome Indicators for the Survey of Program Participants (PDF) - This is a set of outcome indicators proposed for use in surveying program participants for the purpose of quality evaluation. (2007); File Size: 43 KB

  •A Case Study of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation’s Development & Implementation of Quality Councils (PDF) - Prepared by the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) this report gathers information on Massachusetts regional council membership, how information is shared between regional councils and the statewide council, costs associated with operating regional and statewide councils, and next steps under consideration by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation. This case study addresses these key areas of program development and provides an overview of the Massachusetts quality council experience to date. (2007); File Size: 154 KB

  •Instrument Review for Statewide Sample of Service Recipients (PDF) - This memo and the attached copy of the CMS Quality Framework was used by the Minnesota Quality Assurance Panel to develop the set of outcome indicators to be used to gather information from service recipients that will establish the status and limitations in quality in service delivery, support responses to problems and assist in implementing programs of quality improvement. (2006); File Size: 65 KB

  •Overview of Regional Quality Councils: Examples from Four States Analysis by Human Services Research Institute for the Minnesota Quality Assurance Panel (PDF) - Prepared by the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) this report gathers information from four states (Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida and Tennessee) at different stages of quality council implementation. (2006); File Size: 43 KB



 
 

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The Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC) operates with primary funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). It also receives funding from the Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD) and other federal agencies. The RTC is part of the Institute on Community Integration (ICI), in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota.
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