2003 Research and Demonstration Grants — Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement in Home and Community Based Services

COLORADO

Grant Information

Name of Grantee
Colorado Department of Human Services, Division for Developmental Disabilities
Title of Grant
Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement in Home and Community Based Services for Colorado's Citizens with Developmental Disabilities
Type of Grant
Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement in Home and Community Based Services
Amount of Grant
$499,851
Year Original Funding Received
2003

Contact Information

Kerry Stern, Project Director
Assistant Director
Division for Developmental Disabilities
Colorado Department of Human Services
3824 West Princeton Circle
Denver, CO 80236
303–866–7436
kerry.stern@state.co.us


Subcontractor(s)

None.

Target Population(s)

Colorado waiver participants with developmental disabilities.

Goals

Activities

Abstract

Colorado has a complex decentralilzed developmental disabilities system that emphasizes small group living arrangements, promotion of individual and family choice of services/supports and providers, and a large number of providers. Colorado's incident management system is multi-tiered, with both county-based Community Centered Boards (CCBs) and service agencies having line responsibility for preventing, identifying, and following up on critical incidents.

Colorado's baseline quality assurance standards and processes are fundamentally sound, but the challenge facing Colorado is to position QA/QI for HCBS to make smart use of information technology to support quality management and improvement. The Division for Developmental Disabilities (DDD) does not currently have an efficient or effective system to capture information about critical incidents in real or near-real time, or to support trend and root cause analysis of such incidents. The lack of solid information technology (IT) capabilities undermines the capacity to conduct performance appraisals, engage in effective quality improvement, and furnish important information to participants and families to aid them in selecting providers.

This project will provide the IT capabilities that DDD needs to efficiently and effectively identify trends and conduct root cause analysis regarding critical incidents. Further, this project will establish a statewide Project Advisory Committee to review critical incident data and will institute a review process to ensure that DDD and the CCBs demonstrate competence and diligence in responding to critical incident data. These efforts will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of discovery, remediation, and systems improvement.

The project will also provide a needed degree of standardization in information collection, without requiring administratively burdensome and costly changes to the systems that are already in place. DDD will seek only a subset of information, most of which is likely being collected already, and will provide an easily-accessible, web-based platform to receive it.

This project will position Colorado for sustained improvement in its QA/QI activities. The new systems and improvements to existing systems that the project will introduce are highly efficient and based on inexpensive, proven information technology. Finally, the project will build the support of stakeholders for the information collection system through their involvement in the Project Advisory Committee and their continued involvement in an ongoing, statewide Quality Improvement Council.