Real Choice Systems Change

COLORADO

Grant Information


Name of Grantee

Department of Health Care Policy and Financing

Title of Grant

Systems Change for Real Choices

Type of Grant

Real Choice Systems Change

Amount of Grant

$1,120,147

Year Original Funding Received

2002

Contact Information


Bill West, Project Director
303–866–2735
William.west@state.co.us

Laura Hershey, Project Administrator
1570 Grant Street
Denver, CO 80203–1818
303–866–5309
Laura.Hershey@state.co.us

Subcontractor(s)

Kaia Gallagher, Ph.D.
The Center for Research Strategies, LLC
225 E 16th Avenue, Suite 1150
Denver, CO 80203
303–860–1705

Sandra Rossi
17908 E Bellewood
Aurora
, CO 80015

303–548–8754

Target Population(s)


Persons of all ages with a disability or long-term illness.

Goals


  • Expand opportunities for consumers to live in the community by increasing the number and quality of community-based options.
  • Expand opportunities for consumers to live in the community by increasing consumer and provider knowledge of community-based options.
  • Improve the funding system to better meet consumers' individual needs for services.
  • Decrease the fragmentation among State systems involved in coordinating long-term care.

Activities


  • Contract with the Center for Research Strategies to design and conduct a service capacity survey and a sample-based, statewide needs assessment for community-based care with an emphasis on rural areas of Colorado.
  • Develop and implement a rural seed-money grants program to develop community-based care options.
  • Conduct a feasibility study of community-based respite care and develop recommendations for pilot programs.
  • Develop an education campaign on community-based options targeted to consumers.
  • Identify best practices in service delivery and conduct a symposium on best practices for consumers, service providers, and State agency staff.
  • Improve the long-term care assessment process for clients with mental illness and conduct a training session for case managers on working with this population.
  • Analyze current funding streams, review other states' funding models, and develop options for a funding system that allows the money to follow the consumer.
  • Review existing quality assurance programs in long-term care and identify key elements of an effective community-based quality assurance system.
  • Develop policy recommendations regarding an updated quality assurance system for community-based services.
  • Create Web-based application forms for community-based services to be used across State systems.
  • Conduct training sessions on Web-based application forms for case managers across State systems.

Abstract


Colorado's overall objective is to improve and expand sustainable community-based support services to allow children and adults of any age who have a disability or long-term illness to live in the most integrated setting appropriate to their individual needs. In order to meet this goal effectively, Colorado will work in partnership with a consumer task force consisting of a diverse group of consumers, advocates, and service providers to implement all activities. The consumer task force will provide advice to agency staff and subcontractors on all project goals through monthly meetings of the full task force or meetings of one of four subgroups related to the four major goals of the project. We anticipate that the research and policy recommendations that follow from the project activities will build upon past and current efforts by the State to improve and expand community-based services and will inform future efforts by the State to meet this goal.