Real
Choice Systems Change
MASSACHUSETTS
Grant
Information
Name of Grantee
Center
for Health Policy and Research, University of Massachusetts Medical
School
Title of Grant
Massachusetts Real Choice Systems Change: Enhancing Community Based
Services
Type of Grant
Real
Choice Systems Change
Amount of Grant
$1,025,000
Year Original Funding
Received
2001
Amount of Supplemental Grant
$360,000
Supplemental Award Received
2002
Expected Completion Date
September
2006
Contact
Information
Dee O'Connor, Director
Long-Term Care Unit
508-856-8148
darlene.oconnor@umassmed.edu
Erin Barrett
Real Choice Project Director
Center for Health Policy and Research
222 Maple Avenue, Higgins Building
Shrewsbury, MA 01545
508-856-8496
erin.barrett@umassmed.edu
http://www.massrealchoices.org
Subcontractor(s)
Southeast Center for
Independent Living (Support Brokerage Support in Pilot Project)
Elder Services of Worcester Area (Support
Brokerage Support in Pilot Project)
Stavros
Center for Independent
Living (Fiscal Intermediary Support in Pilot Project)
Consumer Quality Initiatives, Inc. (Consumer-Driven Evaluation)
Target
Population(s)
Adults with diverse disabilities and
long-term illnesses not served by the current PCA program.
Goals
- Improve coordination and
collaboration among agencies in the development of long-term support
systems' policy studies, program redesign options, and related
pilot-testing activities.
- Plan for an integrated
information infrastructure that will involve developing state-of-the-art
tools for client functional assessments, streamlining the eligibility
determination process for long-term care services, and enhancing service
coordination options.
- Develop, implement, and
evaluate new community-based service coordination and delivery system
models.
- Develop meaningful and
sustainable mechanisms for involving consumers in the planning and program
development process.
Activities
- Implement interagency
policy coordination and program development.
- Establish an interagency
steering committee of secretariats and commissioners to provide leadership
in program and policy development and coordination across agencies.
- Assess existing
functional assessment tools used by Massachusetts
and by other states and design a universal core intake and functional
assessment tool with modules for specific populations to be used in the
pilot.
- Conduct a review of
literature related to the quality of long-term care, including a review of
best practices.
- Use a pilot program to
test a new form of community-based long-term services and supports.
Abstract
Coordinated by the UMASS Medical
School Center
for Health Policy and Research (UMMS/CHPR), the Real Choice Grant is designed
to enhance the quality and accessibility of the present array of home and
community based long-term supports available to individuals of all ages with
disabilities and long-term illnesses.
The grant is in the second and third phases of a
three-phased approach. The first phase was to examine five project areas:
assessment, information infrastructure, service coordination, education on
disability issues, and consumer-defined quality. The second phase is to
implement a pilot project designed by a collaborative group of state and
consumer representatives. The third phase is to evaluate the process and the
results of the pilot, and to provide recommendations for next steps.
The primary goal
of the pilot project, created by the Real Choice Collaborative Team in
collaboration with the Real Choice Consumer Planning and Implementation Group
and State partners, is to increase the quality of life and independence of
participants (adults diverse in disability and age) through flexible funding.
UMMS/CHPR is currently administering the pilot on behalf of state and consumer
partners through two support brokerage subcontracts and one fiscal intermediary
subcontract.
A review committee of state and consumer partners rated and
recommended subcontractors to UMMS/CHPR through an open Request for Proposals
process. The pilot began in the spring of 2005 and will be evaluated by
UMASS/CHPR in collaboration with Consumer-Quality Initiatives, Inc., a
consumer-driven mental health participatory action research organization.