News
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The 2023 Sarah Taub Memorial NCI Webinar
Aug 14th, 2023
You are invited to attend the 2023 Sarah Taub Memorial NCI Webinar on September 6th, 2023 from 3-4pm Eastern Time.
National Core Indicators (NCI) is the most comprehensive and representative source of data on the characteristics and outcomes of people with disabilities and older adults who use long-term services and supports (LTSS). In 2021-2022, NCI surveyed over 27,000 older adults and people with disabilities using long-term services and supports, as well as 27,502 family members and guardians of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities receiving state-funded services. This webinar will showcase the key findings about access to services, community inclusion and participation, health and wellness, rights and respect, and person-centered planning across the populations who participate in NCI. Discussion will explore trends in these outcomes across service users, including which outcomes are promising and in need of improvement, as well as outcomes that differ across populations. The findings shared in this webinar will improve understanding of where there are gaps in outcomes for service users and can inform LTSS policy and practice. Register today! -
National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD) State of the Workforce in 2021 Pilot Report
Aug 1st, 2023The service systems providing long-term services and supports (LTSS) to older adults and people with disabilities are currently struggling with challenges recruiting and retaining Direct Support Workers (DSWs). Without an adequate workforce providing support, people receiving services from these systems do not have the quality or continuity of supports they need to live and thrive in their homes. However, to date there is a gap in uniform data collection on the DSW workforce within states and across the nation.
The National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD) State of the Workforce Survey aims to collect crucial indicators of stability and quality of the workforce such as turnover, length of employment, vacancy rates, and more. In addition, the survey collects data to describe the workforce and workforce circumstances, such as demographic information, information on the types of supports provided, wages, benefits, etc. Information collected through this effort is critical to understanding the true scope of the workforce crisis and to provide better a context to support state efforts to recruit and retain DSWs.
In 2022, National Core Indicators-Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD) launched a pilot to test the NCI-AD State of the Workforce Survey (SotW), which was administered to provider agencies employing direct support workers (DSW) within the aging and disabilities LTSS sector. The survey was piloted with five participating states: Missouri, Washington, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Indiana. The goal of the pilot was to assess the feasibility of collecting this information and to finetune the survey instrument.
The pilot survey and analysis found that the NCI-AD State of the Workforce effort can reliably collect data from provider agencies on the DSW workforce supporting the AD population. Several lessons were learned from the pilot that will facilitate data collection in the future.
Read the PILOT REPORT
Report Summary
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National Core Indicators Comments on the Notice of Proposed Rule-Making: Access Rule
Jul 6th, 2023On June 30, National Core Indicators submitted a comment letter to CMS in response to the Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Proposed Access Rule).
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NCI®-IDD & NCI-AD™ measures included in first-ever HCBS Quality Measure Set
Jul 25th, 2022On Thursday, July 21, CMS released a State Medicaid Director Letter providing guidance for the first-ever HCBS Quality Measure Set. This letter was the first of two planned guidance documents from CMS related to the measure set.
As noted in the State Medicaid Director Letter, CMS provides states flexibility to select measures from the consumer survey of their choice from the following validated tools: HCBS CAHPS®, and POM®, and the National Core Indicators Surveys: NCI®-IDD, NCI-AD™.
The significant inclusion of NCI®-IDD & NCI-AD™ within this national measure set is a testament to the vision, dedication and leadership of state human services systems, NCI staff and staff at HSRI, NASDDDS, and ADvancing States. These entities have continued to emphasize the importance of a robust quality monitoring program that ensures that the experiences of people who access LTSS are at the forefront of quality improvement efforts. NCI partners have consistently expressed to our federal partners how NCI measures align with stakeholder and state priorities and expectations for quality and monitoring.
As CMS noted in this communication, quality measures will continue to be developed and enhanced. We are committed to further measure development and testing to ensure that NCI remains a valuable and valued tool that supports states in improving quality LTSS.
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NEW DATA BRIEF: Using NCI-IDD and NCI-AD Data to Assess Progress with Person-Centered Requirements in the CMS Settings Rule
Nov 19th, 2021This data brief, a joint product from NCI-IDD, NCI-AD and NCAPPS, presents a hypothetical case study of how states can use National Core Indicator (NCI) data (NCI-IDD and NCI-AD) to look at system-level person-centered planning and practices and better understand statewide system alignment with the HCBS Settings Rule.
Please contact April Young (ayoung@advancingstates.org) and Stephanie Giordano (sgiordano@hsri.org) with questions or comments.