Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Quality Assurance Project Town Hall Announcement

Home and Community-Based Services Quality Assurance Project

Town Hall Announcement

In December 2024, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) started a project to improve the quality of home and community-based services (HCBS). DHHS is working with a group called Alvarez and Marsal (A&M). This project is meant to help many groups that interact with HCBS, including the people who provide residential services such as home and community support for people who have an intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder.

Some key terms you might have heard during this project are:

Quality Assurance: The process of ensuring that programs meet standards and deliver services safely and effectively.
Incidents: This includes Reportable Events, which are when something bad happens, like an injury or a mistake with medicine. This also includes Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation.
Incident Management: How DHHS tracks and addresses these kinds of problems.

Thank You!

Thank you to everyone who participated in the HCBS Quality Assurance project’s town halls and focus groups back in January and February.

Thank you as well to everyone who participated in the focus groups in April where A&M introduced initial ideas about how to strengthen the incident management system.

Your feedback on what does work and what does not work in the incident management system, and whether certain ideas would help to make the system better, was incredibly valuable!

We Want to Share What We Found With You!

DHHS is now at the stage of the project where it is looking to share the final report and next steps with groups involved in incident management. DHHS will host town halls to communicate this information to many people. This is a chance to know what changes might happen to continue trying to keep people safe and healthy.

There will be two different town halls where DHHS talks about the final report. One town hall will be for members, self-advocates, families, guardians, and advocacy organizations. The second town hall will be for providers, Case Managers, Care Coordinators, and other interested groups. DHHS encourages you to join the town hall meant for you.

In these town halls, DHHS will talk about:

Summary of what was found during the HCBS Quality Assurance project.
Explanation of considerations that could strengthen incident management.
Introduction of DHHS’ next steps.
Questions & Answers

HCBS Quality Assurance Project Report Town Hall for Members, Self-Advocates, Families, Guardians, and Self-Advocacy Groups.

HCBS Quality Assurance Project Report Town Hall for Providers, Case Managers, Care Coordinators, and Other Interested Groups.

If you aren’t able to join either of these sessions, you can still send your feedback or thoughts by email to [email protected].