Notes from 3/25 APD Stakeholder Conference Call

[Guest guest]

Sharing... A friend sent these to me these are her own perceptions of the call.

Nila

Basic Notes from APD Stakeholder Conference Call

March 25, 2010

If you were unable to participate in today's APD stakeholder conference call, moderated by interim director Vaughan, they plan to post some information on their website this afternoon...but here are some highlights:

MONITORING WORK GROUP:

Tom Rice in Operations at the state office is leading this new work group and he made 2 announcements:

1. APD is reconsidering the criteria for “deemed status” for facilities serving individuals. Those facilities that have met certain criteria will be designed as having “deemed status” and receive less frequent monitoring.

2. Licensing and Inspection requirements will narrow focus to Health, Safety & Client Rights. New requirements may roll out in the next 30 days.

TRAINING:

- Lack of uniformity in APD training. There are core training areas but the content is addressed differently in each area office.

- Poor communication between area offices, and between area offices and the state office

- There is no written test that is associated with training(s) so providers and coordinators who attend may not be inclined to pay attention. This results in poor service delivery.

- Lack of enough training workshops offered in area offices and through the state office. Mandatory training fill up quickly and provider agencies have a difficult time scheduling staff to attend. This is the case for both mandatory training and Train the Trainer opportunities.

- APD training needs to be offered by APD, in person and online, so that small provider agencies do not have to bear the costs of sending employees to private workshops

COMMUNICATION:

- Information provided by APD, especially through Waiver Support Coordinators, is inconsistent and varies by area

- Lack of response to emergency referrals; these referrals take weeks and sometimes month being held up at local APD offices or at the state level

- Suggestion for a website or designated office to be directly responsible for fielding emergency referrals so that APD becomes more responsive to client needs

- Individuals in the field want to be notified, whenever possible, in advance so that they are not blindsided at the local level

- Too much paperwork and repetitious documentation bog down effective and efficient communication. Paperwork is required to be in hard copy so providers have to hand carry reports to local offices which creates an added expense to the provider

MISCELLANEOUS:

- Several concerns about the role of Delmarva and how inconsistent the information provided to Delmarva is from year to year

- Suggestion that APD to a study about the actual “cost of care” in residential settings

- HR requirements for providers need to be relaxed. They have to have Level 2 background screenings and one year of experience; they are then paid about $8.00/hr. so it’s hard to find people to work

- Wait list stands at 19,000 individuals

- APD is cutting funding for the Family Café to prioritize the wait list and to address issues of health and safety.

STATE OFFICE RESPONSES AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

- APD plans to go paperless, whenever possible, to reduce costs and increase efficiency

- APD will not waive background checks but will look into concerns about qualifications

- APD is looking at frequency of monitoring and exploring new ideas to do business

- Will re-examine how emergency referrals are handled to better serve individuals in urgent situations

- Working on standardization of forms and of training

- Provider training is being revamped to include pre and post-tests, and adding additional opportunities to attend both in-person and online.

- Concerns about Delmarva should be emailed to the AQL (quality assurance) staffer at area offices; reflect AQL in subject line

- APD is working on simplifying their database

- APD is looking at ways to address the wait list

- APD is in state of change; they are continuing to rid the agency of silos and come up with a streamlined system of communication to handle field concerns

- APD invites anyone with suggestions to email the at the state level and put in the subject line: SUGGESTION. It will then be routed to the appropriate Bureau.

- APD is initiating a new dialogue within the agency, with area offices and with individuals and families

- Future stakeholder meetings will be scheduled with a different format due to technical problems with today’s call; too many people not putting their phones on MUTE so it was difficult to hear callers and speakers.

Nila Benito

Community Supports Coordinator

Florida Center for Inclusive CommunitiesDepartment of Child and Family StudiesCollege of Behavioral and Community SciencesUniversity of South Florida, MHC 2113A13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.Tampa, FL 33612 work fax

www.flfcic.org

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