Quality

This paper reviews literature and provides a summary of CMS initiatives in the area of quality measurement and improvement over five years up until 2002. This review applied a wide lens to identify quality strategies in settings of care and delivery systems both within and outside long term care. This paper will serve as background for a meeting with policymakers and experts to assess the relevance and limitations of identified methods to improve the services and outcomes in HCBC programs.

The purpose of The Protocol is to provide the CMS Regional Office staff responsible for reviewing 1915(c) waiver programs, i.e., the state Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waiver programs, with standardized and comprehensive procedures for assessing the quality of care and services provided through these programs. This Protocol was developed for reviews of all waivers and all waiver target groups.

The purpose of this article is to establish standards and requirements for the division of disability, aging, and rehabilitative services (DDARS) approved entities and individuals in the provision of HCBS to aged individuals and individuals with a disability or severe medical condition. LSA Document #03-245(F) Adds 460 IAC 1.1 concerning home and community based services (HCBS) including qualifications for approved providers of home and community based services. Read the full digest for details.

The mission of the Maine Personal Assistance Services Association is to build recognition and opportunity for the direct care, direct support, and personal assistance workforce through education, professional development, and public awareness. The website offers a list of upcoming events, a newsletter, and other resources.

The Muskie School of Public Service maintains this database as a public source of information on quality measures that have been developed for home and community based services. You may search this database in a number of ways to find indicators of interest. <br>*Search the quality indicator database by HCBS quality domains, age groups, populations, and data sources <br>*Browse the quality indicator database by quality indicator developer <br>*Browse quality-related surveys by developer

The National Quality Forum (NQF), a not-for-profit organization funded by the three main trade associations for LTC providers, has created the National Commission on Quality Long-term Care. According to the founders –American Association of Homes & Services for the Aging, American Health Care Association, and Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care – the new group is described as an independent body that will make recommendations concerning improving the quality of long-term care in America.

The Division of Health Improvement assures safety and quality care in health care facilities & community-based programs in collaboration with consumers, providers, advocates and other agencies. DHI promotes continuous quality improvement through: Conducting surveys & program reviews and taking appropriate actions; The identification of trends and patterns, and; The provision of technical assistance & training. The website includes description of system as well as reports, manual and forms.

The Talking Quality website was designed for people and organizations trying to educate consumers about health care quality. It is intended to provide consumers with information on the performance of health plans and providers. The site offers the latest research findings, real-world examples, and innovative ideas on ways to communicate complex information on health care quality to consumers.

The Research Data Assistance Center (ResDAC) is a CMS contractor that provides free assistance to academic, government and non-profit researchers interested in using Medicare and/or Medicaid data for their research. ResDAC also provides workshops & presentations and offers help in building the research and data capacities of small schools.

National Core Indicators is a collaboration among participating NASDDDS member state agencies and HSRI, with the goal of developing a systematic approach to performance & outcome measurement. Through the collaboration, participating states pool their resources & knowledge to create performance monitoring systems, identify common performance indicators, work out comparable data collection strategies, & share results. This multi-state collaborative effort to improve performance is unprecedented.