About

The quality of life of persons living with all types of disabilities is closely tied to the services they receive in home and community settings. Among these services are residential supports, personal care services, and community living supports.

Despite its importance, the quality of home and community-based services (HCBS) has historically been difficult to define and even more difficult to measure.

Through working with researchers, measure developers, policymakers, and advocates, the Research and Training Center on HCBS Outcome Measurement (RTC/OM) is committed to:

• Validating and refining a national framework of HCBS outcomes for persons with disabilities (National Quality Forum) and;
• Implementing the framework to refine and develop measures to assess the impact of HCBS on the lives of people with disabilities in the community.

The five-year project is designed to conduct its work in six related phases. Each phase targets an important aspect of quality measurement, including social validation of the National Quality Forum (NQF) framework, measure development and validation, developing a database of measures, examining implementation practices of data collection programs, and identifying important risk adjustors. One of the Center’s key products will be a set of measures submitted for endorsement by the NQF.

In working to achieve this goal, RTC/OM staff from the University of Minnesota are collaborating with Temple University, the Ohio State University, the University of California - San Francisco and the National Council on Aging, as well as other partners, supporters and stakeholders from around the country.

The RTC/OM also offers technical assistance and consultation to organizations serving people with disabilities around the country to assist with selection and application of measures in different contexts.

This research is funded by the NIDILRR, federal grant # 90RT5039.