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Tags Posts tagged with "Survey"

Survey

A message from ACCSES:

The Government Accountability Office, which has reached out to ACCSES for assistance with this survey as well as other GAO studies, asked ACCSES to send the following message to ACCSES members:

“In the coming days, your organization may receive an email from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. The GAO is conducting a study of trends in wages and participation in the 14(c) program, characteristics of 14(c) employees and movement to competitive integrated employment, and the Department of Labor’s oversight of the program. To help inform parts of this study, GAO plans to conduct a survey of a random sample of 14(c) certificate holders. We encourage you to respond and ensure that GAO has the correct contact information for the survey.

If you have any questions about the survey or GAO’s study, please contact the GAO team at [email protected].”

If your organization receives the survey and can speak to the issues, ACCSES hopes you will participate. You are welcome to reach out to us with questions.

Kind regards,
Kate

Message from ANCOR:

New research finds COVID-19 pandemic further decimating a direct care workforce in crisis.

Like you, we have long understood that the direct support workforce crisis our community has grappled with for years can be traced directly to long-standing underinvestment in community-based I/DD services. We have also long suspected—though couldn’t say for certain—that the onset of new pressures and hazards wrought by the pandemic has significantly exacerbated challenges related to recruitment and retention. 

Unfortunately, we now have stark evidence to confirm what we believed was true: the direct support workforce crisis has been made much, much worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is a key takeaway from ANCOR’s newest research, which we published this morning.

The State of America’s Direct Support Workforce Crisis 2021 summarizes the findings of ANCOR’s survey of providers, which we fielded for a five-week period beginning in August 2021. The survey, which followed up on our 2020 research, garnered 449 responses and sought to understand the human and financial impact of the direct support workforce crisis. The survey measured the same dimensions we asked about in 2020, along with additional measures targeted specifically to the impact of COVID-19 on DSP hiring and retention.

Key findings from ANCOR’s 2021 State of America’s Direct Support Workforce Crisis survey include that:

  • 77% of providers are turning away new referrals, a 16.7% increase since the beginning of the pandemic.
  • 58% of providers are discontinuing programs and services, a 70.6% increase since the beginning of the pandemic.
  • 81% of providers are struggling to achieve quality standards, a 17.4% increase since the beginning of the pandemic.
  • Nearly 3 in 10 providers report spending at least $500,000 annually on costs associated with high turnover and vacancy rates.
  • 92% of providers report that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to complicate their ability to recruit and retain qualified direct support professionals.

To say the least, these results are troubling. But for those of us committed to moving beyond the direct care workforce crisis once and for all, it is imperative that we understand the true impacts of the crisis and the ways in which it is colliding with the COVID-19 pandemic. For these reasons, we invite you to download The State of America’s Direct Support Workforce Crisis 2021 and read lead author Lydia Dawson’s analysis today.

Download the State of America’s Direct Support Workforce 2021 issue brief today.

A message from Rick Smith of the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP):

Dear Providers of ODP Waiver or Base Funded Services:

ODP is currently in the process of refreshing data for Fee Schedule services. The data gathered by this survey will help inform ODP rate assumptions.

By September 20, providers are asked to answer the following questions for ODP waiver or base funded services only; which includes Consolidated, Community Living, P/FDS, Adult Autism waivers and Base. Do not include ICF/ID data in your agency’s response. Please provide only one survey response per organization (MPI). If the data is not available, please skip that question and move to the next question.

ODP Rate Assumption Survey link 

Sincerely,

Rick Smith
Director of Fiscal Operations

A message from Rick Smith of the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP):

Dear Providers of ODP Waiver or Base Funded Services:

ODP is currently in the process of refreshing data for Fee Schedule services. The data gathered by this survey will help inform ODP rate assumptions.

By September 20, providers are asked to answer the following questions for ODP waiver or base funded services only; which includes Consolidated, Community Living, P/FDS, Adult Autism waivers and Base. Do not include ICF/ID data in your agency’s response. Please provide only one survey response per organization (MPI). If the data is not available, please skip that question and move to the next question.

ODP Rate Assumption Survey link 

Sincerely,

Rick Smith
Director of Fiscal Operations

Message from the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University:

The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) is conducting a Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment designed to meet and satisfy the State Plan requirements in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. This project is being conducted in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Council.

As part of this assessment, the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University invites Pennsylvania Community Rehabilitation Providers (CRPs) to complete a survey to identify how OVR can better support people with disabilities and providers across Pennsylvania. We are requesting your feedback on your customers’ and staff’s needs, gaps, and barriers to service provision, and strategies that support competitive employment for Pennsylvanians with disabilities, including students and youth.

This survey is anonymous and voluntary. It will take approximately 20–30 minutes to complete. Upon completion, you may enter your contact information into a drawing to win one of three $20 gift cards.

Please complete this survey by August 31, 2021.

The Institute is also looking for CRP professionals to participate in brief phone interviews. Please share your expertise. Those interested can email or call 215-204-7660.

Thank you for your time!

Institute on Disabilities at Temple University

Message from the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP):

Dear Intermediate Care Facility for Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IDs) and Community Home Provider:

The Department of Human Services (DHS) has a critical need for updated vaccine uptake information as a result of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases and recent news related to boosters. We need your help to gather this important information. Please complete this brief survey by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, August 31, 2021.

This survey is part of a larger effort to obtain a point-in-time view of the vaccination rate of staff and residents in all facilities licensed by DHS. For the number of staff, please use the count for those currently employed and who work within the licensed residential setting(s) operated by your agency (even if they might not come into direct contact with individuals receiving services).

We realize that you have provided this information in the past; you will note that this survey is much shorter than previous versions (Residential Providers complete for agency, not by licensed home) and should take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.

For any questions regarding this survey, please contact ODP.

Thank you for your support in our ongoing fight against COVID-19.

A Message from Deputy Secretary Kristin Ahrens:

To: Licensed Residential Providers
Hello,

We thank those who have taken the time to complete this survey. For those that have yet to do so, we ask you complete by close of business this Friday. The survey will only take a few minutes. This information will be critical to assist DHS in helping promote vaccination and ensure that all facilities have the provider partners they need to do so. Thanks for all the work you do.

Thank you again for all your support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As PA DOH and DHS prepare for the potential for updated vaccine guidance from the CDC, we request that all Long Term Care Facilities (LTCFs), Congregate Care Facilities and Residential Providers fill out the below one-time survey discussing each facility or community home’s vaccine access plan. The survey consists of only a few questions and should take no more than 3 minutes of your time.

Survey: https://form.jotform.com/212066323150139

Long Term Care and Congregate Care Facilities are asked to share the following information about vaccine access in their facilities:

  • Plan for accessing COVID-19 vaccine doses for residents
  • Who will administer the COVID-19 vaccine at the facility

Please respond to this survey no later than Tuesday, August 17th.

Please notify PA DOH if you have any questions about the survey or how to access the COVID-19 vaccines with the subject of the email “Long Term Care Facility Survey Questions.”

Survey: https://form.jotform.com/212066323150139

Thank you for all of the work you’ve done to vaccinate residents and community members during this pandemic.

Kristin Ahrens | Deputy Secretary
PA Department of Human Services | Office of Developmental Programs

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The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services’ Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS) invites individuals to participate in the Attitudes Towards Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Survey.

Prospective participants are individuals who provide clinical direction or clinical supervision to staff who occasionally provide behavioral or mental health services to children ages 0 through 8 and their families. See the memorandum for details.

To register as a participant and/or to learn more about the benefits of participating in the ARTIC Survey Study and about the Cross-Sector Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Services Collaborative, please review the memorandum, which contains 2 registration links: one for a brief online Question & Answer Webinar, which will be held on August 17, 2021, from 1:00 pm–2:00 pm, and the other for enrolling as a survey participant. Questions regarding the Webinar can be directed here.

Thank you in advance for your interest. We hope you can participate, and we look forward to hearing from you. If you have any further questions, please contact RCPA Children’s Director Jim Sharp.

We have been asked by ANCOR, who is partnering with the University of Colorado and ACCESS: Supports for Living, to gather data on the impact of the pandemic on the behavioral health of people with I/DD. The survey is targeting people with disabilities, not our staff. You can take the survey here.

The study Impact of the Pandemic on Behavioral Health of People with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities (IDD) is being led by Jessica Solomon Sanders, MD (University of Colorado Departments of Developmental Pediatrics and Neurology) and Benjamin Margolis, MD (Access: Supports for Living). Among those affected by the COVID-19 crisis, there are groups of disproportionally affected individuals, including individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), where we are seeing not only increased morbidity and mortality but also decreased mental health. It is likely that many factors are contributing to decreased overall wellness, not only related to conditions resulting from infection, but also amongst those affected by downstream changes required by the pandemic. We hope to highlight these factors and changes leading to this impact through analysis of this survey.

To learn more, please email Dr. Sanders or Dr. Margolis. This study has been approved by the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board (COMIRB? #21–2546). You can also contact the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board at (303) 724-1055.

The survey takes about 10 minutes. Participation is voluntary and participants’ time and insights are greatly appreciated. All responses are anonymous. Results will only be available in aggregate.