Developmental/Intellectual Disabilities

On Monday, August 22, 2022 CMS released the Money Follows the Person (MFP): Updated State Transitions annual report for calendar years 2017 to 2020. The MFP demonstration, established by Congress through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, enables state Medicaid programs to help Medicaid beneficiaries who live in institutions transition into the community, and gives people with disabilities and older adults more choice in deciding where to live and to receive long-term services and supports. From the time transitions began in 2008 to the end of 2020, states had transitioned 107,128 people to community living through MFP. The brief shows how MFP transitions varied by state and target population over time.

With support from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, CHCS brought together patients, providers, researchers, and clinicians to develop a Patient-Centered Complex Care Research Agenda. The agenda aims to embed a consistent focus on what matters most to patients into complex care research design and will be released in Fall 2022. This blog post shares lessons for including patient perspectives to guide research priorities, based on CHCS’ experience creating a patient and family advisory board and a research community to help inform the Research Agenda.

The Aging and Disability Business Institute has published two infographics exploring how Area Agencies on Aging and other community-based organizations address the social determinants of health of older adults and people with disabilities in their communities through contracts with health care entities. The infographics identify key partners and services in these contracts, as well as where this contracting activity is occurring around the country.

The Advancing Health Equity Learning Collaborative is seeking applicants for the next cohort of the collaborative, which will include five teams comprised of Medicaid agencies, managed care organizations, and health care provider organizations or systems. The learning collaborative will help teams develop shared equity priorities, uncover the drivers of disparities in their member populations, and create payment models to support equity-focused care transformation.

Late yesterday CMS released a State Medicaid Director Letter (SMDL 22-003) providing guidance for the first-ever HCBS Quality Measure Set, the first of two planned guidance documents from CMS. The HCBS Quality Measure Set is included in the SMD, starting on page 14. The list of measures includes the NQF number (if applicable), measure steward, and data collection method, as well as information on whether each measure addresses section 1915(c) waiver assurances and/or can be used to assess access, LTSS rebalancing, and/or community integration and HCBS settings requirements.

The Narrative Matters section of the October issues of Health Affairs, focused on disability and health, is holding a poetry contest. Health Affairs is looking for poems touching on topics related to disabilities and health by writers who have experience with disability. Family members and caregivers of people with disabilities are welcomed to submit work as well. The winner will receive a $500 prize and have their poem featured in the October issue of Health Affairs. The deadline to submit a poem is July 25, 2022.

Patient and staff-reported measures are a key way to assess the quality and experience of care for people with complex needs. CHCS worked with health care organizations to test new measures for understanding patient and staff experiences related to well-being, equity, goals of care, and care integration. This brief explores insights from the Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family at Boston Medical Center, Hill Country Community Clinic, and Denver Health, which used these measures to assess quality within their organizations.

The Housing and Services Resource Center was created for people who work in the space of housing resources and homelessness services, behavioral and mental health services, independent living services and other supportive services. The Center is part of a partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to expand affordable housing, improve home and community-based services, and address bias in America's long-term care system.

NCOA's free BenefitsCheckUp tool, used to connect aging professionals and their community to benefits programs, has been updated to be more accessible. The new version of the tool includes details on 2,000 benefits in English and Spanish, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicare Savings Programs, Affordable Connectivity Program; free, confidential eligibility checks by program or category; and Personalized support via a call center, chat, email, and connections to local centers.

On June 2, 2022 20 citizen members were sworn in as members of the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID). The PCPID is now preparing for it's first public committee meeting on Thursday, July 28, 2022 from 12:00 p.m. to to 4:00 p.m. ET. Comments and suggestions from people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are strongly encouraged. Comments received by June 30, 2022 will be shared with the PCPID at the July meeting.