Rebalancing
Initiative (REBAL)
ILLINOIS
Target
Population
Seniors residing in nursing facilities
who are eligible to reintegrate back into the community, seniors wanting to
remain in the community but who need additional support, and caregivers in need
of information or services to help the senior remain in the community.
Geographic
Focus
Statewide
Primary
Focus
The State will focus on developing the strategy, tools, and
resources necessary to increase access to home and community-based services for
seniors who want to, and can safely, transition out of institutions. The
project will result in a comprehensive inventory and database of available
services and a mechanism by which the State can prioritize the need for new
services. In addition, the project will acquire a quality management mechanism
by creating an effective quality assurance and improvement framework for
evaluation and monitoring of the program.
Goals,
Objectives, and Activities
Goal: Determine the
capacity of the current long-term care (LTC) service system to identify
deficiencies and any barriers to filling gaps.
Objectives/Activities
- Clarify roles and
responsibilities of existing aging network providers participating in the
transition process.
- Create an inventory
and analyze services available by county and by Chicago neighborhood.
- Create an inventory
and analyze available, affordable, and appropriate housing options by
county and by Chicago
neighborhood.
- Assess the level of
funding or lack of funding to provide services to transitioning seniors.
- Develop a strategy to
address funding needs for transitioning seniors.
Goal: Identify
consumer needs and preferences for LTC services.
Objectives/Activities
- Convene focus groups
of seniors to identify and prioritize additional service needs.
- Convene forums of the
Illinois Department of Aging (IDoA) stakeholder
network to develop a strategy to meet consumer needs and preferences.
Goal: Develop a
quality assurance strategy and tools to ensure quality of LTC services.
Objectives/Activities
- Establish uniform
quality assurance standards that are benchmark performance, person
centered, data driven, and focused on consumer direction.
- Conduct comparative
analysis of the actual costs associated with nursing facility residents
returning to their homes and communities.
Key
Activities and Products
- Clarify roles and
responsibilities of existing aging network providers participating in the
transition process.
- Create an inventory
and analyze services available by county and by Chicago neighborhood.
- Create an inventory
and analyze available, affordable, and appropriate housing options by
county and by Chicago
neighborhood.
- Assess the level of
funding or lack of funding to provide services to transitioning seniors.
- Develop a strategy to
address funding needs for transitioning seniors.
- Convene focus groups
of seniors to identify and prioritize additional service needs.
- Convene forums of the IDoA Consumer Direction Stakeholder Network to develop
a strategy to meet consumer needs and preferences.
- Establish uniform
quality assurance standards that are benchmark performance, person
centered, data driven, and focused on consumer direction.
- Conduct comparative
analysis of the actual costs associated with nursing facility residents
returning to their homes and communities.
Consumer
Partners and their Involvement in Implementation Activities
- Seniors will be
recruited to participate in focus groups held at several points in time
during the 3–year grant period to prioritize services needed by seniors,
thus resulting in a systematic approach to adding and funding new core
services.
- Seniors will be
recruited to participate in a series of forums with IDoA's
Consumer Direction Stakeholder Network to develop a strategy to meet
consumer needs and preferences.
Public and
Private Partners and their Involvement in Implementation Activities
- Area Agencies on Aging
(AAAs), Case Coordination Units (CCUs), and
Centers for Independent Living will work with IDoA
to identify and provide intensive support to nursing home residents who
want to transition to more independent living settings.
- AAAs will work with IDoA to clarify roles and responsibilities of existing
aging network providers participating in the rebalancing process and
assist with the data collection to inventory/analyze available services
and housing options for seniors.
- A coalition, with
representatives from Jane Addams Senior Caucus, Centers for Independent
Living, and Housing Opportunities for Minority Elderly (HOME), will work
together to assure high quality transition services are available to
seniors.
Advisory
Body, Committee, or Task Force
- The Illinois Long Term
Care Council will advise the IDoA. This council
is responsible for ensuring quality of life for residents in long-term
care facilities. Members consist of nursing home residents,
representatives from the nursing home industry, and State Ombudsman
officials.
- The Older Adult Service
Advisory Committee will also advise the IDoA.
This committee is responsible for studying and recommending long-term care
system restructuring initiatives. The 40–member committee includes
representatives from government agencies, advocacy and service provider
agencies, and the health care industry.
Formative/Process
Evaluation Activities
The Program Manager at IDoA will
establish uniform quality assurance standards that are benchmark performance,
person centered, data driven, and focused on consumer direction, to measure how
and if service capacity effects the success of an individual's ability to
maintain independence in the community and to measure the ongoing success of
each individual demonstration site.
Summative/Outcome
Evaluation Activities
- The Program Manager at
IDoA will conduct comparative analysis of the
actual cost associated with nursing facility residents returning to their
homes and communities and will present results in a cost analysis report.
- The IDoA
will conduct a series of focus groups throughout the duration of the grant
to identify and prioritize service needs and preferences of seniors. This
will enable the IDoA to develop a systematic
strategy to pursue additional financial resources to fund those services
that are identified by consumers to be the most beneficial.
Strategies
to Ensure Sustainability
- The completion of an
inventory and database of services and available, affordable, and
appropriate housing options for Illinois'
seniors will be utilized to assist seniors who seek to remain in or return
to their communities.
- Participation of
consumers in focus groups to identify and prioritize service needs and
preferences will enable the IDoA to develop a
systematic strategy to pursue additional financial resources to fund those
services that are identified by consumers to be the most beneficial.
- A comparative analysis
of the costs associated with nursing facility residents returning to their
homes and communities will contribute greatly to the State's ability to
support budgetary enhancements.
- Ensuring the development
of a comprehensive quality assurance program will enable the IDoA to ensure that standards are adopted that are
benchmark performance, person centered, data driven, and focused on
consumer direction.