CMS-10462 Discussion Protocol for Stakeholder Focus Group

Community First Choice Discussion Protocol for Stakeholder Focus Group

Introduction

• Introduce facilitators (explain that we are from NORC, NASHP, and CMS)

• Thank you very much for your time today.

• We have been asked by CMS to produce a Report to Congress about the Community First Choice program. They are interested in hearing about the program’s implementation, its progress thus far, and the extent to which various entities have been involved with its design and early phases.

• In this discussion, we are interested in hearing about what, if any, role you and your colleagues have played in establishing this program, as well as in the design and provision of home and community-based services and personal attendant services in your state more broadly.

• We are interested in your opinions. We want you to know that there are no right or wrong answers and the answers you give here will not be associated with you in any way in our reporting and future communications with anyone else. Our format will be informal. We’ll ask some questions, but we mostly want to hear from you.

• We have to cover a few things before we get started.

  • We do not plan to ask very personal questions, but we are talking about health care – so, please keep everything someone else has said private after this meeting.

    • Again, we won’t share anything you have to say as coming from you personally as our report will be a general summary.

  • As much as we want to hear what you have to say, it is completely okay for you not to answer any question if you don’t want to.

  • Your participation is voluntary and you can leave at any time.

• We do have a member of our team from NORC taking notes so we can write our report.

  • These notes will only be used by our project staff and will not be shared with anyone else.

  • To make sure that we all hear what everyone has to say today, we ask that folks be careful to just speak one at a time, and to not have side conversations or interrupt one another.

• We expect that this focus group will take approximately 1.5 hours. We’ll do our best to stick to this schedule.

• If any questions come up after we leave here today, please feel free to contact Gretchen Torres at 312-759-4049.

• Does anyone have any questions before we begin?

Discussion Questions

• Please describe your and/or your organization’s role in the provision of home and community-based services in your state?

• How did you first learn about the Community First Choice Option?

• How familiar do you feel with the provisions of the program and the extent to which it differs from the manner which home and community-based services have historically been provided in your state?

• What were your initial opinions of the state’s plan to implement CFC?

  • What, if any, mechanisms were in place for stakeholders such as yourself to provide feedback?

  • To what extent has any of the feedback you offered been incorporated into the design and implementation of the program?

• Other than providing feedback (if applicable), what specifically has been your/your organization’s role in the development and implementation of the Community First Choice option?

  • If you have been involved, would you say that the State engaged you in the implementation process or the other way around? How so?

• From your perspective, what impact has the CFC program had thus far on the people it serves? Specifically, how, if at all, has it affected the individuals’:

  • physical health?

  • emotional health?

  • ability to live independently?

  • care coordination more generally?

  • caregivers?

• To what extent do you feel stakeholders have been effectively engaged in the design and implementation of this program?

  • Are there particular groups that should have played a more (or less) central role?

• Are there any parts of the program you would like to see changed?

Thank you very much for your time today and very helpful comments.

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