All States/Territories

Draft Version 3.0 of the1915c Medicaid HCBS Waiver Application and the “Instructions, Technical Guide and Review Criteria.” are now available. These materials provide guidance for completing the application, background information on program requirements and assurances, an explanation of options available to states and review criteria. States interested in using the draft application prior to 1/’06 should notify your CMS Regional Office which will provide you with the most current -Version 3.2.

This brief User’s Guide is designed to accompany orientation and training sessions that will be provided to the statewide and regional Councils in Massachusetts that use the Q.A. report as a foundation for exploring how to use data as a quality tool. To use data effectively requires that users have a basic understanding of the benefits and limitations of data. That is the purpose of this guide and the training sessions that will be provided to Quality Council members.

Since the inception of the survey and certification process in 1994, the Dept. of Mental Retardation in Massachusetts has been assessing the quality of supports provided by both public and private providers to help individuals obtain important outcomes in their lives. This evaluation process formed the basis for certifying/licensing agencies to provide services. This web link describes services that are subject to licensure, defines the levels, outcomes and survey results.

The State of West Virginia has shared a number of sample forms for their MR/DD waiver programs. Tools include a variety of evaluations, forms, reports worksheets, summary sheets and applications.

This entry includes sample forms and results used to monitor direct care services for group, residential and day habilitation services and supports for people with developmental disabilities in Colorado. The surveys include both administrative and case management functions.

The Massachusetts Supportive Housing Program (SHP) was developed in 1999 to strengthen coordination between housing and service agencies to support aging in place by creating an “assisted living like” environment in state funded, public elderly housing. On site service coordination and seven-day a week, 24-hour available personal care services contribute to important resident perceptions of increased safety and security.

This report assesses the experiences of personal assistance workers in the first Cash and Counseling demonstration project, Arkansas’ IndependentChoices. It describes the types and amount of care that paid workers provide, the training and supervision they receive, their working conditions, and their well-being. It also looks at how the worker-consumer relationship affects key outcomes, comparing the experiences of agency workers to those of directly hired workers.

States that are trying to streamline policies and paperwork to help people receive long term care and support in community settings are re-examining the processes they use to determine eligibility for programs. This technical assistance document focuses on one of those processes, determining “level of care”, and provides clarification about federal requirements for physician involvement.

A wage pass-through is an additional allocation of funds provided through Medicaid reimbursement for the express purpose of increasing compensation for direct-care workers. Twenty-one states have implemented these programs in expectation that doing so will help address the worker shortage. The purpose of this issue brief is to: describe the structure in selected states; summarize what is known about the impact of these programs on recruitment and retention; and identify key design elements.

The objective of this workshop was to create an ongoing mechanism within the state to continue communication, coordination, and improved collaboration among key public and private stakeholders involved in systems change activity.