Consumer/Participant Direction

This presentation gives a brief overview of Idaho’s Real Choice grant and Money Follows the Person grant. The goals of the project were to: reduce the stigmatization of people with disabilities, complete and economic analysis of the current Medicaid system, community development, and to complete and effectiveness study. Review their key activities, methodology, and evaluation.

In September 2004, Minnesota’s Real Choice Systems Changes grantees presented at the Illinois 2004 Systems Change Seminar. Presentations covered the Minnesota’s Personal Assistance Care Program, QA/QI grant, ADRC grant, and its Senior Health Insurance Program. A variety of topics covered include quality assurance, stakeholder involvement and personal assisted services

The following information was presented at the Illinois 2004 Systems Change Seminar. Topics presented included: trends in long-term care, progress on the Illinois Community-based Treatment Alternatives for Children (CTAC) grants, the Illinois Housing Development Authority and how its work pertains to persons with disabilities, and Michigan’s progress on its Real Choice Systems Change grants.

Community Service Options, Inc (CSO) is an organization dedicated to assisting persons with developmental disability to receive service and live in the “least restrictive” setting. CSO provides screening, eligibility assessment, service coordination, and advocacy throughout the Chicago area. The website provides links to their services and assessment tools.

This survey developed by the Illinois Department of Human Services is intended to match potential roommates by compatibility of habits and interests. The goal is to find a good match of potential housemates.

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 paper focuses on the experiences and perceptions of community liaisons and the managers of Consumer-Directed Agencies (managers) who participated in the Massachusetts Real Choice Pilot. The experiences of the Real Choice community liaisons and managers provide insight relevant for the larger implementation of the support brokerage component for an Independence Plus option that will be available within the Massachusetts Community First waiver.

Does self-determination refer to a curriculum that teaches students with disabilities to be self-directed problem solvers, a technique for redirecting funding streams to control the dollars allocated for their supports and services, or a philosophy grounded in democratic values and constitutional principles of autonomy and liberty? Or is it two or three of these? TASH invites you to read this Exchange focusing on the need to have more coherence and consistency in terminology/descriptions.