CIL NET Presents: A Teleconference & Webinar Series

New Opportunities in Community Based Services

Cost: $150.00 for the entire series

Register online or by using this printable registration form.

This year, CIL NET is offering a teleconference & webinar series on new opportunities in community based services. Taking place in three parts, this series will explore community resources, participant direction, and funding sources, all within the context of a Center for Independent Living.

Part I: Creating a Community Based Services Report Card for Your State

Wednesday, March 9, 2011; 3:00 – 4:30 PM EST

This webinar will provide you with strategies to determine your state’s commitment to home and community-based services and measure the effectiveness of providing opportunities to offer participants choice and control.  We will apply these collection activities to various funding strategies (Medicaid; Medicare; Centers for Disease Control; Older Americans Act, including Medicaid, Older Americans Act and Veterans Administration).  Your presenter will also provide tips to synthesize and use materials that are introduced.  The session is highly participatory and sets the stage for additional collection and analysis opportunities.       

Topics include introduction of the various resources available to:

• access information and data associated with long-term services and support;
• analyze the information and data; and
• compare your state with national averages.   

The session identifies resources and techniques to collect data and information from:

• AARPs Public Policy Institute recent report on the Impact of the Great Recession on Long-term Services and Supports;
• State’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System;  
• Kaiser Foundation; and
• other resources about community living. 

Learning Objectives: Participants of this session will learn to:

1)  Access various resources to obtain data and information about home and community-based services.
2)  Apply techniques to analyze information and data collected.
3)  Draw relevant assumptions based on the gathered information and data.

Part II: New Community Opportunities from the Affordable Care Act

Tuesday, March 22, 2011; 3:00 – 4:30 PM EDT

This session identifies and provides an update to existing funding opportunities and introduces new opportunities related to the Affordable Care Act (Community First and Community Living Assistance Services and Supports), the Veterans Administration and other funders.  Recent Federal regulations are reviewed to determine relevancy to people with disabilities in specific states. 

Learning Objectives: Participants of this session will learn to identify:

1)      Existing funding opportunities to support people living in the community
2)      Potential opportunities associated with the Affordable Care Act
3)      Methods to access opportunities

Part III: Exploring the CIL Role to Support Participant Direction in Community-Based Services

Thursday, March 24, 2011; 3:00 – 4:30 PM EDT

Participant direction has been shown to be a successful service delivery option by providing persons more choice using a flexible budget to control their services.  This session explores opportunities for CILs to support participant direction.  Co-presenters will include CIL staff currently performing these tasks.

Areas of CIL support include:

• providing information and assistance to individuals as they manage their own services
• providing participant skills training on employment related issues, and
• performing financial management services 

Learning Objectives: Participants of this session will learn to:

1)      Describe participant directed support activities and the role of CILs
2)      Identify operationalizing support activities
3)      Identify experiences of CILs currently performing support activities

Meet Your Presenter

Suzanne Crisp, Director of Program Design and Implementation for the National Resource Center for Participant-Directed Services, manages and oversees aspects of design and implementation for programs promoting participant-directed home and community-based services. She assesses existing programs to determine compliance and efficiency, develops products to enhance understanding of the implementation of participant direction, performs diagnostic program reviews, and attends national conferences, meetings, and panels representing Boston College. Also, serving as the lead coordinator between Boston College and the Administration on Aging’s Nursing Home Diversion grants, she provides technical assistance to the Veteran’s Administration Home and Community Based Services initiative.

In the areas specific to participant direction, Ms. Crisp coordinates with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to examine Federal authorities to create Medicaid programs, manages efforts under the Money Follows the Person initiative and assists program staff to develop quality management strategies. Formerly, a Senior Research Leader with Thomson Reuters, she provided extensive technical assistance to state Medicaid programs on all program design facets at the direction of CMS. She also served as a State Liaison Mentor for the Cash and Counseling National Program Office and assisted the Administration on Aging with information and research to develop quality self direction strategies for the Federally funded National Community Living Incentive. She joined Thomson Reuters in 2003 following a detail to CMS’ Central office where she served in the capacity of Director of Integrated Services. During her detail to CMS she participated in the development of the Federal Independence Plus initiative. She also served as the Assistant Director to the Arkansas Division of Aging and Adult Services where she implemented and managed the first Cash and Counseling National Demonstration and Evaluation Project, managed three home and community waiver programs, and oversaw the Older Americans Act, Ombudsman and Adult Protective Services Programs. As a result, Ms. Crisp has unique expertise in participant direction given her wealth of experience in this area both at the state and Federal levels. She has a degree in Social Work from Arkansas State University. 

This webinar is presented by New Community Opportunities, a national training and technical assistance program of Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU). This webinar was organized and facilitated by the National Council on Independent Living.

Support for the presentation was provided by the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration under grant #H400B100003. No official endorsement of the Department of Education should be inferred.