Quality
Assurance and Quality Improvement in Home and Community Based Services
DELAWARE
Grant
Information
Name of Grantee
Division
of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDDS)
Title of Grant
Consumer
Centered Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement in Home and Community Based
Services Protocol
Type of Grant
Quality
Assurance and Quality Improvement in Home and Community Based Services
Amount of Grant
$351,702
Year Original Funding
Received
2003
Contact
Information
Joseph B. Keyes
Director, Professional Services
Woodbrook Professional Center
1056 S. Governor's Avenue, Suite
101
Dover, DE
19904
302-744-9600
Joseph.Keyes@state.de.us
Subcontractor(s)
June Rowe
Human Services Research Institute
Cambridge, MA
617-876-0426
Project consultant for information
technology (IT) development phase still to be chosen.
Target
Population(s)
Consumers with developmental disabilities.
Goals
- Assess current quality
management functions for waiver and nonwaiver
home and community based services (HCBS), including strengths and
weaknesses, desired outcomes, gaps across the HCBS Quality Framework, and
consumer satisfaction and quality indicators.
- Develop a strategic plan
based on assessment findings that outlines specific objectives to
formulate the Division's quality assurance/quality improvement (QA/QI)
system program consistent with the HCBS Quality Framework focus areas and desired
outcomes.
- Implement the QA/QI HCBS
system after conducting a pilot test that can be evaluated for
effectiveness and efficiency, usefulness in measuring desired outcomes,
and timeliness.
Activities
- Assess status of
policies, practices, and documentation/data by collecting data through the
National Core Indicators Project (ongoing) and Consumer Experience Survey
(mental retardation and development disabilities [MR/DD] version).
- Establish/revise
policies, practices, and documentation/data systems to address weaknesses
or gaps identified by the assessment.
- Establish an ongoing
protocol for assessing individual satisfaction and outcomes, based on the
Consumer Experience Survey and National Core Indicators Project Survey.
- Establish and/or revise
QA/QI management monitoring functions for gathering real-time
information/data on outcomes and client satisfaction/outcomes areas.
- Develop QA/QI data
management computer systems and interfacing databases to identify problems
in risk management/indicator data plus service provider performance
measures.
- Establish a reporting
and remediation system where remediation and improvement plans are
implemented, monitored, and tracked.
- Establish an interactive
consumer feedback system to provide periodic feedback to the Division and
service providers on satisfaction and service delivery problems.
- Conduct and evaluate a
pilot of the QA/QI HCBS system with a representative group of individuals
and service providers.
- Develop a plan for
expanding the QA/QI HCBS management functions to all home and community
based services.
Abstract
Building on DDDS participation in the National Core
Indicators Project and in the Re-inventing Quality Conferences, a 3-year plan
for developing a consumer-centered QA/QI system for HCBS has been developed. A
Consumer/Stakeholder Task Force will be formed to direct the project, which
uses the HCBS Quality Framework (National Quality Inventory Project) and the
Consumer Experiences Survey (MR/DD version) to structure the changes to the
Division's QA/QI system.
The project has three phases: (1) assess quality
management functions in the current QA/QI HCBS system, (2) develop a QA/QI
HCBS strategic plan around the HCBS Quality Framework focus areas and desired
outcomes, and (3) implement the new QA/QI HCBS system. The activities of
this project will lead to a fundamental alteration in the Division's QA/QI HCBS
system, which will be person centered around the seven
focus areas and related desired outcomes of the HCBS Quality Framework.