Developmental/Intellectual Disabilities

The report presents six strategies or policy levers, gleaned from previous research reports that can be implemented on the federal and local levels to promote collaboration and coordination and support livable community objectives. Examples were selected from a vast array of actions that can be taken. Each of the strategies is illustrated by actual promising practices at both the federal and state levels that can be adapted and replicated elsewhere.

ADRCs can be affected by both external and internal changes in leadership. Organizations that plan for and carefully manage a leadership transition, however, can minimize disruption and even use the change to shift direction and strengthen organizational capacity. This issue brief offers suggestions for ways ADRCs can manage transition and position themselves to take advantage of opportunities to strengthen collaboration and advance the goals of the ADRC program.

Launched in 2004, Flexible Services and Supports (the Pilot) gave participants control in calculating an individual budget where they then purchased services and goods to meet their community living needs. What were the experiences that provide lessons for the design and implementation of this model on a larger scale? This report reviews: design issues and implementation barriers, makes recommendations for future work, and describes any financial impacts of the Pilot on Medicaid utilization.

Creating a single assessment tool to be used across age and disability has been an interest of states, policy makers, and providers for years. An interest also exists to develop a consumer-driven participatory assessment where consumers take a more active role. Following review and input from a diverse work group, this tool was piloted for 16 months and a qualitative evaluation was conducted to determine its utility. The development process yielded key findings and recommendations.

Is your program challenged by effective methods to meaningful consumer involvement in the redesign of long-term services and support systems? This report reviews the history and effectiveness of the consumer involvement strategy used from the consumer, state partner, and grant staff perspectives. The report informs future consumer involvement methods in grant activities and other policy decision-making activities and also identifies lessons learned and creates recommendations.

This website offers products, courses and services, online resources, and news and announcements for health professions education, and to improve access for people with disabilities to health, health education and health care services. Check out a number of their great resources including the Evacuation Preparedness Guide, Aging with a Disability information, and other tools for decreasing health care barriers.

This site provides quality ADHD/ADD information, resources, support and help. Attention Deficit Disorder Resources is a national non-profit organization that helps people with ADD or ADHD achieve their full potential through education, support and networking opportunities. The site offers reading material, teleclasses and membership information.

Explore the impact of consumer-directed support on the economic, health, and social outcomes between families enrolled in the program and those on a waiting list. Caregivers reported fewer out-of-pocket disability expenses, greater access to health care, engagement in more social activities, and greater leisure satisfaction. There also appeared to be greater impacts on lower income families; these caregivers reported better mental health and access to health care than did the waiting list group.

Review two papers that center on the topic of public disability and health benefits and the fundamentals of the Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs and their relationships with Medicare and Medicaid. Part I looks at definitions, distinctions and overlaps; it reviews the effects on the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act. Part II discusses major initiative and issues in these programs in light of growing administrative, fiscal, and other problems.

Speaker presentations from the recently concluded 19th Annual State Health Policy Conference in Pittsburgh are now available. Topics include Helping Troubled Youth, High Performance Health Systems, Balancing Long-Term Care, Improving Quality, Assuring Better Child Health and Development, Redesigning Coverage in Medicaid, Patient Safety, and Using Data to Inform Public Policy. Review the presentations and other hot topics in state health policy.