Consumer/Participant Direction

The Compendium contains basic information about each of the Real Choice Systems Change Grantees. The Compendium will help you learn more about how these grants will be used to allow more people of all ages with a disability or long term illness to live and participate in their communities. Real Choice Systems Change Grantees will also find the Compendium useful to identify other Grantees with similar goals and activities. The fifth edition of the Compendium replaces all previous editions.

A number of autonomy-compatible vehicles exist for people with disabilities and their families to exercise choice and control over resources; however, many programs are complex to navigate and vary from state to state. In shaping a savings program, benefits planning seems to be a likely ingredient. This report illustrates why LIFE Accounts holds great promise as an adjunct to other permissible approaches for the accumulation of assets that lead to increased independence and social participation.

Granite State Independent Living (GSIL) in New Hampshire provides a Personal Care Services (PCS) program. This service is part of the Home and Community Based Care/ Elderly and Chronically Ill Waiver (HCBC/ECI) program. As part of the PCS consumer-directed model, the program is designed to provide services that assist individuals to live in a community setting. This survey is used to determine satisfaction levels.

This Technical Assistance Manual was designed for New Hampshire to provide guidance on becoming a Certified Other Qualified Agency and a Medicaid HCBS-ECI Waiver Provider. The seven section report provides an overview of the long-term care service delivery system and the use of consumer-directed personal care services. There are additional suggestions for monitoring performance and marketing a Qualified Agency.

This AARP Public Policy Institute Issue Paper examines the efforts of South Carolina, Washington and Wisconsin to improve home care quality by using a more person-centered approach. The initiatives described in this report point to the significant ongoing efforts that states are using to ensure quality care and support in the home. The challenge for state officials continues to be the creation of quality assurance systems that place consumer needs and goals for quality of life first.

This report provides a comparison of Medicare, Medicaid and State Child Health Insurance Program provisions contained in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (S. 1932) as amended and passed by the Senate. The report compares the bill's provisions with current law. This report will be updated. The sections that most pertain to providers of HCBS services are the Cash & Counseling section, the HCBS State Plan Option and the Money Follows the Person Demonstration.

With the recent enactment of the Deficit Reduction Act, states who are interested in increasing their home and community based programs have three new opportunities. The DRA has many components but the three provisions that increase flexibility over benefits and cost sharing include the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) option (section 6086-page 118), a Money Follows the Person (MFP) demonstration project (section 6071-page 99)and a Cash and Counseling option (section 6087-page 124).

The Big Sky Bonanza (BSB) quality management strategy was included in the state's CMS waiver application and has recently been approved by CMS. The process will weave together quality assurance and quality improvement strategies using a three-tiered process. Tier I of the process is the individual/provider level. Tier II is the Regional level. Tier III is the State/Division level.

Visit this clearinghouse, training and technical assistance center devoted to moving power and authority over resources directly to individuals with disabilities, families and allies. The website features publications, events, learning opportunities, resources and products including a new guidebook, Guaranteeing the Promise of Freedom. Designed for trainings, this guide addresses individual budget development, ways to re-thinking public dollars, an approach to quality and a budget template.

Download transcripts and slides or view this workshop discussing the evidence base for consumer-operated, delivered, and centered services. Speakers presented the evidence grading pyramid, along with the specific levels of evidence for models such as recovery self-management, drop-in centers, advance directives, and self-directed care. A special focus is on the results of the national multi-site research study of consumer-operated service programs (COSP), directed by people in recovery.