Community-Integrated Personal Assistance Services and Supports

RHODE ISLAND

Grant Information

Name of Grantee

Department of Human Services

Title of Grant

Rhode Island's Community-Integrated Personal Assistance Services and Supports

Type of Grant

Community-Integrated Personal Assistance
Services and Supports

Amount of Grant

$539,730

Year Original Funding Received

2001

Contact Information

Deborah Florio, Chief
401–462–0140
dflorio@dhs.ri.gov

Ruth Schennum, Ph.D.
Project Coordinator
Family Health Systems
600 New London Avenue
Cranston, RI 02920
401–462–0137
RSchennu@dhs.ri.gov

Subcontractor(s)

Affiliated Consumer Systems/Birch and Davis
Rick Jacobsen, Ph.D.
401–462–6357
rjacobse@dhs.ri.gov

RFP issued for PASS Grant activities (7/1/02–9/30/04).

Target Population(s)

Medicaid-eligible children with special health care needs.

Goals

  • Design and implement a consumer-directed Personal Assistance Services and Support (PASS) program that will maximize control and choice for children with special health care needs and their families, potentially substitute for other therapeutic services in high demand, expand the pool of current service providers, and improve the continuum of services for children.
  • Develop and implement specialized training modules targeted to Comprehensive Evaluation, Diagnosis, Referral, and Reevaluation (CEDARR) Family Centers, PASS Agencies, PASS consumers, families, and direct service workers.
  • Implement a PASS quality assurance and program evaluation system that is data driven.

Activities

  • Collaborate with consumers, advocates, and agencies to guide the key design components of personal assistance services and supports (PASS).
  • Develop certification and performance standards for PASS providers and facilitate workshops for potential PASS providers.
  • Establish a prior authorization system through CEDARR Family Centers.
  • Convene a PASS certification review team for potential PASS agencies inclusive of consumers.
  • Design and develop PASS informational materials and integrate PASS services into the existing Rhode Island Medicaid Infrastructure.
  • Analyze the training needs of CEDARR Family Center staff, PASS agencies, consumers, families, and direct service workers and develop a training curriculum for each group.
  • Develop tools to be used by CEDARR Family Center staff to assist consumers with decision making and management regarding PASS.
  • Provide oversight and monitoring of PASS provider performance in relation to certification standards through site visits and data review.
  • Perform financial and utilization analysis on an ongoing basis using CEDARR data system.
  • Conduct focus groups and satisfaction surveys with PASS consumers for program review and improvement.

Abstract

Rhode Island is committed to the development of home and community-based support systems for families of children with special health care needs (CSHCN) that reflect the values of self-determination and independence. These values guide the development of services and supports to enable children and youth with special health care needs to grow, develop, and live as independently as possible in their homes and community. These supports and services will maximize opportunities to succeed in the least restrictive and most natural settings. As these children and youth mature into adulthood, the skills developed through these services will help them take greater responsibility and control of their own care. PASS will be implemented through consumer-directed models of care, calling for greater levels of parent/guardian and family involvement and responsibility than is typical with agency-directed services.

To promote these community-based support systems and services, the Department of Human Services (DHS) is soliciting applications from qualified organizations to become certified as PASS agencies for Medicaid-eligible CSHCN.

These PASS services will fill a large void in Rhode Island. By the end of the grant period, approximately 50 to 100 families will access consumer-driven PASS services. Funded as a service benefit under EPSDT rules, the services developed through this grant will continue to be supported beyond the period of this grant.

State PASS certification standards are available online on the DHS Web site reached at www.dhs.ri.gov.