Quality Assurance in State VR Agencies Joe Mathews, CRC Technical Assistance Advisor Region VIII TACE University of Northern Colorado

What is Quality Assurance? In developing services or products, quality assurance is: any systematic process of checking to see whether a service or product is meeting specified requirements designed to increase customer confidence and an organization’s ability to improve work processes and efficiencies allowing an organization to better compete with others and provide the highest quality services

So What’s the Big Deal and Why Now? Congress and State Legislatures are requiring specific goals and outcomes for all programs funded with public dollars. Open and transparent government is expected from the taxpayer. Evidence based research, data and service delivery are essential to ensure quality outcomes in agency performance. Utilizing good data becomes a foundation for future decision making. A comprehensive quality assurance system reinforces continuous improvement.

General Concepts Open and transparent government Specific goals and outcomes Continuous improvement is expected Goal is to reduce waste and inefficiency Utilizing sound data becomes the foundation for future decision making An identified process for quality improvement that is transparent, efficient and timely Evidence based research, data and service delivery is critical to assure quality outcomes in agency performance Provides the state agency a methodical process to ensure ongoing documentation in the areas of program improvement

Building Blocks The Precept/Mission language of the Rehabilitation Act which broadly guides the values and ethics of the national service culture. The Standards and Indicators representing the central focus of the federal monitoring process of the states and their service production. The State/Strategic Plan that connects the first two dimensions to the community experience of the VR constituents. VR quality assurance systems should be forward thinking and driven by the agency mission, vision and values. These in turn drive how the organization operates. Services can be directly tied to the goals, which can be directly tied to the mission. This point has been stressed by RSA in monitoring reviews.

Essential Components Federal monitoring reports - Corrective Action Plans (CAP) and Program Improvement Plans (PIP) Standards and Indicators State Plan Strategic plan Federal data reporting Public hearings Focus Forums Reports to Governor Legislative reports

Essential Components Continued State Case Management, Fiscal and Data Systems Agency Case Reviews Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) Input from Key Partners and Ancillary Programs Evaluations of Service Delivery Role and Advice from the State Rehabilitation Council Structured Cycle of Calendared Events (Cycle of Service)

Cycle of Service A process for: receiving meaningful input strategy development implementation of processes and service delivery ongoing data collection evaluation of results acting on what is learned

Cycle of Service Concepts The process is then repeated and is always aligned with state agency business cycles… It is critical that this cycle be transparent and disciplined. This public services cycle is necessarily different and distinct from the commercial private sector marketing model. It is specifically designed to constantly refresh the definition of quality in direct response to your consumers and partners. To assure full inclusion and consensus the process should involve agency staff, key stakeholders and the State Rehabilitation Council.

Conclusion VR trend toward accountability and continuous improvement Greater emphasis on justification Recent push from state and federal agencies toward program evaluation and quality assurance systems

Community of Practice Building a community National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation http://ncrtm.org/ Program Evaluation: Quality Assurance Summit Denver, Sept 16-17 www.taceregion8.org Registration coming soon