Care Coordination
Medicaid Service Coordination has been replaced by a new, more robust service called Care Management. This service will be provided through specialized Care Coordination Organizations or Health Home CCOs. There will be three CCOs in New York City, including Care Design New York, Advance Care Alliance of New York and Tri-County Care. The new service will be even better for people with I/DD because, in addition to providing existing service coordination support, it will coordinate and connect them to more comprehensive services, including health, behavioral health, long-term care and all other Medicaid-funded services.
Self-Directed Services
Self-directed services means that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are responsible for making decisions regarding the services that they receive through person-centered planning. Person-centered planning puts the individual at the center of the planning process. The individual chooses how certain services will help them set and achieve personally meaningful goals. Through self-directed planning, an individual pursues goals that help achieve personal fulfillment. Unlike goals meeting basic needs, these goals serve as a source of empowerment and personal growth. In the past, service coordination did not necessarily consider the unique wants and desires of the person receiving the services. Without this customization, it is difficult to validate or measure how services actually enhance quality of life. HeartShare developed a tool called Help Empower the Realization of Outcomes which are Individually Created (HEROIC). HEROIC offers guidelines on how a Medicaid Service Coordination team supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities set and measure personally-meaningful goals. Throughout this process, the voice of the person receiving services or his/her trusted advocate is paramount. The tool also offers guidelines on collecting data that measures the valued outcome, or what the person hopes to achieve through the pursuit of the goal.
