Consumers for Quality Care, No Matter Where

About the Initiative

Consumers for Quality Care, No Matter Where is a three-year initiative launched by the Consumer Voice in October 2010.The initiative is expanding the Consumer Voice’s national grassroots advocacy network to focus on issues faced by long-term care consumers who receive services and supports in non-nursing home settings and build a strong consumer voice to advocate for well-coordinated, accessible, quality long-term services and supports both at home and in the community (“home and community-based services” or hew“HCBS”).

A key component of the initiative is conducting pilot projects in five states. The states are:

In each of these states and at the national level, the Consumer Voice is working to:

  • identify and mobilize consumers around state and national policy issues related to HCBS;
  • prepare a report presenting the consumer perspective on quality home care and policy recommendations for each state and across the pilot states;
  • educate consumers about options for long-term services and supports and how to advocate for quality care and services for themselves or others; and
  • increase the number, diversity and engagement of consumers and other advocates in the state network and the national Consumer Voice network.

For more information, contact Consumer Voice Director, Advocacy & Outreach, Robyn Grant at rgrant@theconsumervoice.org.

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Consumer Perspective on Quality Care Report

The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care has been working with a number of organizations across the country to improve the quality of home care in California, New Mexico, Ohio, Vermont, Virginia and nationwide. We could not accomplish this without hearing directly from the people who are actually receiving services and care at home. To do that we sought out home care consumers who were willing to share their experiences. We wanted to know what they thought makes for good care and services at home. Therefore, over the past few months we interviewed consumers who recevied care, services and supports in their home and also had consumers give us information by computer to learn about their experiences with home care and their opinions.  In addition, we held a national conference call on July 31, 2012 as another way for us to get the perspectives of onsumers. The information we received from both the interviews and the conference call were used to write a report for policymakers with recommendations about how to make home care better.  We are very excited to announce that the report was released on September 7, 2012!

 

 Read the report online here:   http://issuu.com/consumervoice/docs/cprfinal

Or in .pdf format:   Download now 

Press Release 9/7/12 – Read it here   

  

LONG-TERM CARE CONSUMERS VOICE THEIR OPINIONS ABOUT HOME CARE
New Report Shows:  Consumers Are Adamant about Staying At Home; More Funding for Services and Better Pay for Workers Desperately Needed 

 

 

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 Conference Calls

March 28, 2012 - Long-Term Services, Supports and Housing:  Choices & Advocacy

On March 28, 2012 the Consumer Voice held a conference call titled Long-Term Services, Support and Housing: Choices & Advocacy. The call provided consumers currently receiving or seeking long-term services and supports in their home, their family members, as well as long-term care ombudsmen, other advocates and interested others with an overview of options for long-term services and supports (LTSS) at home and in the community. It also covered housing rights and ways to overcome barriers to obtaining affordable, accessible housing. The call included presentations from: Jessica Brill Ortiz, Program Manager at the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care; Robyn Grant, Director of Advocacy and Outreach at the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care; Sarah Kaplan, Independent Living and Youth Advocate at the Boston Center for Independent Living; Bonnie Milstein, Director of Housing Policy for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law and Co-Chair of the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Housing Task Force; and Julie Sanchez a Consumer from New Mexico.

A free recording of the conference call is available here. The call materials are available here. A CD of the call recording and printed versions of call handouts are also available for purchase from the Consumer Voice for $5.00, plus shipping and handling. Visit http://www.theconsumervoice.org/catalog or call 202.332.2275 for more information or to place an order.

 

July 31, 2012 - Long-Term Services and Supports:  Consumer Input Call

On July 31, 2012 the Consumer Voice hosted a national conference call for homecare consumers, titled “Long-Term Services and Supports: Consumer Input Call.” This event was open to any consumer who receives care, services, and supports in their home. Our goal for the call was to better understand what is important to consumers who receive care and services in their own homes. We posed a series of ten questions and received feedback from consumers on each question. The questions ranged from how consumers feel about their workers, their care and services, the kind of choices they’d like to make, and finally what they think the government can do to improve/ensure quality care.

We were incredibly pleased with the outcome of the conference call and thrilled with the responses and participation we got directly from consumers. We feel this type of advocacy, where you go directly to real consumers to get an understanding of what they’re experiencing, is innovative and critically important. We want to thank everyone in our network who helped spread the word. It was a direct result of your efforts that our call was such a success.

A free recording of the conference call is available here.  The call materials are available here.

 

November 14, 2012 - From Consumer Voices to Advocacy Action

We all want quality long-term services and supports at home – but what does this actually mean to the consumer? The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care went directly to home care consumers and asked that very question. The results were published in our recently released report, Consumer Perspectives on Quality Home Care.

During this webinar participants learned:

• How consumers assess quality and the policy implications of what consumers believe is needed to achieve quality long-term services and supports at home.
• Key skills for turning policy recommendations into advocacy action.

A free recording of the conference call is available here.  The call materials are available here.

 

April 9, 2013 - Consumer-Directed Home Care

The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care recently hosted a national webinar about consumer-directed home care.  During this webinar participants learned:

  • What consumer-directed home care is
  • The different models of consumer-directed home care
  • What consumers need to direct their own care
  • The personal experiences of two consumers who direct their own care

A free recording of the conference call is available here.  The presentation slides are available here and the call materials are available here.

 

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Additional Resources

Press Releases:

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Media Coverage

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National Advisory Council

Advisory Council Members:

  • John Booker, Direct Care Alliance Board Member
  • Eric Carlson, National Senior Citizens Law Center
  • Sherry Culp, Bluegrass/Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency
  • Deb Holtz, Office of Ombudsman for Long-Term Care
  • Beverley Laubert, National Assoc. of State LTC Ombudsman Programs
  • Deborah Merrill, National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities
  • Linda Muckway, HCBS Consumer; mother is in a nursing home
  • Mary Osborne, n4a
  • Gordon Peters, Consumer
  • Courtney Shahan Roman, National Partnership for Women & Families, Campaign for Better Care
  • Aaron Tax, SAGE
  • Austin Walker, National Council on Independent Living (NCIL)
     

National Advisory Council Meeting Notes

 

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