Promising practices

Looking for an example of a business model that incorporates the recruitment, employment and training of those with disabilities? First Course is an intensive culinary training program in Keene, New Hampshire. Their curriculum is designed to provide individuals with a solid foundation in the food service and hospitality industry. A link to their website, a list of food service jobs and tasks, along with the Professional Development Plan and Student Performance Log forms, are provided here.

TAC is a national non-profit organization that advances proven solutions to the housing and community support needs of vulnerable low-income people with significant long-term disabilities. Their goal is to achieve sustainable public sector systems change through evidenced-based, promising approaches in mental health, substance abuse, human services and affordable and permanent supportive housing. Visit this website to find news, training, publications, and policy and program info.

The West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services developed this communications plan for their Cash & Counseling project. The plan includes information on an internal and external scans, messaging, communications activities, and a timeline.

This Provider Resistance Toolkit includes: Tips on working with providers, a template letter for providers, template frequently asked question document, template Power Point presentation, sample case management references, graphic: Consumer and Provider tasks in consumer-directed services and basic components, and a sample presentation: Self-direction: What to look for from the federal, state and provider perspectives.

First illustrating the US workers’ compensation system, this article continues to detail worker’s compensation programs and how they function. A historical overview and the basic objective of worker’s compensation laws are also reviewed. The article ends with a discussion of issues, challenges, and promising practices.

This outcome evaluation, by The Center for Outcome Analysis, Inc., (their website is included), measures whether microenterprise participants and their direct support workers experienced changes in the qualities and quantities of work life. The results found within this study affirm that microenterprise options do offer a viable alternative to “adult day programs” and “sheltered workshops” for citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

This report is a collective summary of the impact and outcomes of Medicaid services to over half a million unique individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Using data and statistics, from 2007, State rankings are given with the intention of providing guidance as to how each State performs overall in serving these individuals, acknowledging areas for each State that need improvement, and identifying top performance areas for each State, making resources easily identifiable.

Studies show that 70% of the uninsured children in the United States, approximately 5 million children, are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) yet remain uninsured, despite varying State outreach efforts. Beginning in 2008, Maryland introduced Maryland Kids First Act, a new and innovative way to identify and enroll eligible children; through income tax filings. Preliminary efforts, results, and challenges are outlined here.

Outcome data in the treatment of mental health and substance use are scarce, making quality improvement difficult. This report describes how Medicaid claims data can be combined with service-level data to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of services provided in community mental health centers (CMHCs). It describes how CMHCs in three States have used a particular system, Service Process Quality Management (SPQM), to improve quality and achieve cost savings.

IPAWS is a modernization and integration of the nation’s alert and warning infrastructure. This paper serves to demonstrate how IPAWS addresses the challenges of reaching the whole community, including the 25% of our population who might need assistance. It offers evidence that while IPAWS doesn't solve all of the challenges, it can certainly mitigate them, particularly with greater stakeholder engagement and public awareness. Emerging technologies that could improve accessibility are reviewed.