Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement in Home and Community Based Services

TEXAS

Grant Information

Name of Grantee

Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS)

Title of Grant

Texas Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Project

Type of Grant

Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement in Home and Community Based Services

Amount of Grant

$500,000

Year Original Funding Received

2003

Contact Information

Teresa Richard, Project Director
Center for Policy and Innovation
Quality Assurance and Improvement
701 West 51st Street
Austin, TX 78751
512-438-3518
teresa.richard@dads.state.tx.us

Subcontractor(s)

Kirk Jones, Data Analyst, began June 2005
Blake West, Business Analyst, began April 2006
Jay Parmar, Database Developer, began April 2006

Target Population(s)

Persons with intellectual/physical disabilities and the aged served in the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) programs.

Goals

  • Develop cost-effective methods to measure individual participant experiences in the DADS programs.
  • Research and develop a uniform and automated critical incident reporting process.
  • Develop an integrated information-gathering system to compile and automate information regarding program provider performance and participant experiences in DADS waiver programs.
  • Conduct consumer experience (developed by Human Services Research Institute) and participant experience (developed by Medstat for CMS) surveys with a statistically significant random sample of persons in all DADS Medicaid waiver and Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with Mental Retardation Services (ICF/MR) programs.

Activities

  • Establish a task force to assist DADS staff with the development and implementation of the quality assurance and quality improvement (QA/QI) project.
  • Conduct literature review and identify the methodology or tool that will be used to measure participant experiences.
  • Research existing tools and processes to (1) determine the best process for gathering critical incident information currently not reported to DADS on a consistent basis and (2) help develop cost-effective methods to measure individual participant experiences in DADS programs.
  • Hire consultants to work with the task force on reporting formats and other design features.
  • Join the National Core Indicators Project, conduct surveys, compile data, and analyze results of the participant experience survey.

Abstract

The project will redesign and improve the State's information-gathering system to integrate DADS's existing QA/QI reporting mechanisms into a comprehensive data collection system. This system will ensure that DADS's methodology to measure the quality of services ensures an accountable use of public resources and a balance between personal outcomes and flexible supports and regulatory requirements to improve the quality of the DADS programs.

The project will establish a Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement Task Force that will include participants and family members, advocacy groups, DADS program providers, local authorities, and other stakeholders. The integrated information-gathering system to be developed will

  • provide stakeholders with information about specific program providers in order to facilitate participant choice of providers;
  • improve upon the ability to evaluate programs at the individual component level;
  • provide a foundation on which DADS can continue to build a comprehensive QA/QI system into its programs; and
  • establish a centralized system for agency-wide data collection, analysis, and reporting mechanisms.