Quality

Presentations from the 2014 National Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Conference.

Presentations from the 2015 National Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Conference.

Presentations from the 2016 National Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Conference.

While faced with new challenges, reduced budgets, and growing populations requiring more services, states are stronger than ever, and the work they do is more effective than ever in reaching individuals and addressing their needs. The National Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Conference 2017 highlights these achievements, allowing states to share best practices, present unique partnerships, and recognize the work of their peers.

In 2017, ADvancing States administered a survey of state agencies that deliver LTSS, including aging and disability agencies as well as Medicaid programs, regarding the significant policy, fiscal, and operational issues occurring within each state. During the survey, we collected detailed information about the structure of agencies, the supports provided, and the populations served by state programs.

This report represents two years of work by the HCBS Committee and and contains the Committee's final set of recommendations. It describes key components of a conceptual foundation for home and community based services (HCBS) quality measurement, specifically an operational definition of HCBS, a list of characteristics describing high-quality HCBS, and a measurement framework of 11 domains and 40 subdomains.

ADvancing States in collaboration with the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI) released the results from a six-state deployment of the National Core Indicators – Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD™) adult consumer survey. While 13 states are participating in the NCI-AD survey in 2016, six of the states - Colorado, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, New Jersey, and North Carolina- received their results more quickly.

On April 21, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule on managed care in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The final rule enhances transparency in Medicaid and CHIP managed care, supports states in contracting with health plans that offer higher-value care, improves consumer and stakeholder engagement, and, where feasible, aligns quality measurement and improvement in Medicaid and CHIP managed care with other systems of care.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the annual Nursing Facility initiative report. This report summarizes the impacts from the three-year-old initiative that tests the ways to reduce avoidable hospitalizations. Research from CMS shows that "approximately 45%" of hospitalizations could be prevented with the proper interventions. This report uses the data from experience during the second performance year of the initiative in 2014.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began the Financial Alignment Demonstration in 2013 to improve care coordination. GAO was asked to examine care coordination under this demonstration. On January 19, The Government Accountability Office publicly released a report with their recommendations for CMS. GAO recommends that CMS develop new measures and align the current measures to improve oversight of care coordination.