Personal Assistant

This Internet site is provided as a resource for policymakers, health care consumers, providers, and all citizens of Colorado. The site includes information on the Medical Assistance Program and the Consumer Directed Attendant Support (CDAS) program.

What exactly does “empowerment” mean and how do we translate that into practical action? This brief paper describes some possible ways to measure empowerment.

The Town of Littleton, NH has received a $270,000, three-year grant through the Real Choice Systems Change to develop and maintain an infrastructure for the removal of barriers preventing persons who are aging and others with disabilities from fully participating in community life. This document includes a description of the grant and a power point presentation that outlines details and challenges in the development of this Model Community.

These are files made available by the State of New Jersey Dept. of Health and Senior Services. A job description, task responsibilities, policies, and a checklist are all available. These materials are all used in the New Jersey consumer direction program.

A number of CMS grantees are working on quality assurance and improvement initiatives as part of their Community Living Grant activities. This audio conference was organized specifically to meet the needs of grantees who expressed great interest in hearing about what CMS requires for quality in community-based services, about promising practices and quality assurance and quality improvement and overall CMS goals for quality services.

This article reports on Arkansas' telephone survey of consumers and surrogates. The survey focused on consumer satisfaction with current services and consumers’ and surrogates’ perceptions regarding the cash option. Survey data address how Arkansas can reach the most interested consumers and surrogates, what messages Arkansas should emphasize in its communications and marketing, and what issues should be explored further in postsurvey focus groups.

This Working Paper explores key policy issues arising from the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. Specifically, this paper examines how states have responded to the Court’s suggestion regarding the development of comprehensive, effectively working plans for placing qualified persons with disabilities in less restrictive settings as a way of satisfying the ADA’s “reasonable modifications” requirement.

In these reports, the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) traces the budget issues that states confronted in 2002 & 2003 and examines how they addressed those issues. The report also describes long-term care legislation enacted in 2002 & 2003 and long-term care planning work that is under way in many states.

Alaska changed its Medicaid personal care program based on principles and recommendations from a 75-person Personal Care Summit that involved program participants, personal assistance providers, advocates, and state policy makers. The changes created consumer-directed personal care agencies that train participants to direct their own services and perform fiscal responsibilities for people who employ their own personal assistants through the CDPCP.

The Formative Evaluation of the Real Choice Systems Change Grants evaluates how the Systems Change grantees are progressing towards meeting their goals. The Formative Evaluation identifies problems faced by the grantees and ways that they deal with the problems. The purpose of this report is to describe the progress fiscal year (FY) 2001 Grantees have made on their activities during the first year of the three-year Grant period (October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002.)