The newsletter of The Council on Quality and Leadership
Partners in Excellence; Leadership for the Journey

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Crosswalk to Quality

In 2002, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced its Quality Framework for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS). The HCBS Quality Framework is intended to serve as a common frame of reference in support of productive dialogue among all parties who have a stake in the quality of services and supports for people with disabilities. The Framework focuses attention on the desired outcomes of HCBS quality management and improvement efforts. The framework defines quality through the delineation of desired outcomes for waiver participants across seven broad domains and 35 sub-domains. The seven broad domains are:

  • Participant access
  • Participant-centered service planning and delivery
  • Provider capacity and capabilities
  • Participant safeguards
  • Participant rights and responsibilities
  • Participant outcomes and satisfaction
  • System performance

To learn more, visit http://www.cms.hhs.gov/medicaid/waivers/82902ltr.pdf

In response to many requests from our customers and partners, The Council on Quality and Leadership (CQL) designed a Crosswalk that identifies how CQL's Personal Outcome Measures system aligns with the CMS Quality Framework. We were able to demonstrate that CQL's measures address all of the domains in the Quality Framework.

States and providers can work with CQL to support their quality management efforts.

A free downloadable copy of the Crosswalk is available on our website http://www.thecouncil.org/pdfs/crosswalk404.pdf

As part of the development of our new Quality Measures 2005sm, we are updating the Crosswalk. Each of the domains, desired outcomes and areas of focus in the HCBS Quality Framework is paired with one or more probes from Quality Measures 2005sm. The Crosswalk provides a template for organizations to assess their success in implementing the Quality Framework via use of the Quality Measures 2005sm. Once finalized, the new Crosswalk will be available for download on our web site.

Organizations that are successful in implementing Quality Measures 2005sm will also be successful in implementing the HCBS Quality Framework. The properties of HCBS Quality Framework are being used by CMS in their new application and waiver renewal process.