White Paper on Outcomes and Metrics to Support States’ Implementation of the HCBS Settings Rule

The HCBS Advocacy Coalition, with support from the Community Living Policy Center, released a white paper meant to assist states and stakeholders in tracking progress and outcomes from implementation of the Medicaid Home and Community Based (HCBS) Settings Rule. Issued in 2014, the Rule was designed to ensure that all people receiving HCBS have the full benefits of community living, including access to the broader community, choice and control over their daily lives, and opportunities for employment. States have until March 2022 to comply with the Rule, which if implemented well, has the potential to improve the quality of Medicaid-funded HCBS systems at all levels: individual participants, providers, and state systems.

The Rule requires states to engage in ongoing monitoring throughout implementation.  To this end, it is critical that state agencies and stakeholders have on-going conversations about how to measure progress.  In an effort to support these conversations, the HCBS Advocacy Coalition brought together national subject matter experts[i] to develop recommended outcomes and related metrics.

The results of this work are available now:

[i] Experts included representatives from the HCBS Advocacy Coalition (Center for Public Representation, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, and the National Health Law Program), the Community Living Policy Center, National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS), Human Services Research Institute (HRSI), The Council on Quality Leadership (CQL), Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston, Institute for Community Integration at University of Minnesota, and The State of the States in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Project at University of Colorado.