The Division of Developmental Disabilities sees support coordination as a critical and integral part of ensuring that individuals who receive I/DD services have easy access to high quality services so that they may enjoy a life of opportunity and independence.  Utilization of data gathered from the Individual Quality Outcome Measures Review (IQOMR) has been an essential part of our efforts with regard to evaluating support coordination services and the broader array of I/DD services.  Analysis of the data gathered from the IQOMR promotes accountable and effective delivery and oversight of those services by allowing DBHDD to evaluate the quality of care individuals receive, evaluate the impact of services on outcomes for individuals, and determine areas where improvement or additional support is needed. 

In evaluating the support coordination system as a whole, DBHDD found that out of over 30,000 issues identified by support coordination since July 1, 2016, through the Recognize, Refer and Act evaluation method, less than 1% of issues remained unresolved and required follow-up by Division of Accountability and Compliance (DAC).   DAC holds service providers accountable for meeting contractual obligations, and they may intervene as a result of ongoing concerns to prompt action and resolution.  Additionally, 90% of identified issues were resolved through the coaching process without requiring elevation to a referral status.  These are two indicators of a functional Recognize, Refer and Act method that focuses the resolution of identified issues through collaborative efforts between support coordinators, providers, and other stakeholders. 

As a result of data analysis conducted over the past year, DBHDD, as well as external entities, identified an essential opportunity for improvement of the existing IQOMR in order to acquire better data on outcomes moving forward.  The current tool includes 25 items to be evaluated during required visits by support coordination.  However, numerous items contain multiple questions, thus making it impossible to discern within the data which component the response was aimed to address.  DBHDD determined it was necessary to split apart the majority of items that contained multiple questions and revise some of the items to provide greater clarity.  The result is a vastly improved 55 item tool.  The revised IQOMR went  live in CIS on January 1, 2018 for immediate use by support coordination.  The Division has prepared an updated IQOMR User’s Guide to accompany the revised tool and promote greater understanding of the intent of each item.  The revised IQOMR and User’s Guide can be found in Related Files on the DBHDD – Support Coordination webpage (www.dbhdd.ga.gov/sc). They have also been included as attachments to DBHDD Policy Outcome Evaluation: “Recognize, Refer, and Act” Model, 02-435, which was updated on January 19, 2018.  It is essential that all stakeholders become familiar with the items DBHDD has requested for support coordination to evaluate, so that all parties can work collaboratively to achieve optimal outcomes for all individuals served.

Related Files