by Karen M. Larson
Services for people with developmental
disabilities often leave a lot of room for improvement. Yet when
the idea of “quality
assurance” is mentioned, most people glaze over: same old bureaucratic
red tape with no effect on services. That’s why VOICE, the new quality
assurance (QA) tool recently developed in southeast Minnesota, is so revolutionary.
It works, people are excited about it (no kidding), and other parts of the
state are lining up to copy it.
Actually, when stakeholders from 11 southeast MN counties came together
to develop VOICE, they came up with more than just a new tool for QA;
they actually use the new tool to support a whole new way to license
care providers. Their new state-approved alternative licensing system
is called The Minnesota Region 10 Quality Assurance.
In 1995, a broad base of stakeholders gathered to address the issue
of improving quality: individuals receiving support, family, friends,
providers, county staff, advocates, legislators, state staff and educators.
This team, from the eleven counties in Southeastern Minnesota, met
to discuss the service system for persons with developmental disabilities.
The stakeholders worked with area legislators to develop and in 1997
pass legislation that would allow counties to participate in an alternative
licensing system that would focus on quality outcomes for people with
disabilities and their support providers.
In a letter to State
Senator Linda Berglin, Charlie Lakin of the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration wrote, “The
Region 10 Quality Assurance Commission is a Minnesota original. It
is of Minnesota, and I know it has the opportunity to bring the best
of Minnesota to a process about which most people are deeply cynical—if
they care enough to have any attitude at all. Most people have decided
that quality assurance is essentially pro-forma and of minimal benefit
to the vast majority of Minnesotans with developmental
disabilities. I think we are as a state extremely fortunate to
have a group of citizens who have stood up to say we shouldn’t
accept that. We shouldn’t accept that
for people with disabilities, and we shouldn’t accept that
as a use of public resources.”
How VOICE Works
VOICE stands
for “Value of Individual Choices and Experiences”.
The new QA tool is entirely based on the persons receiving services—-their
needs, their wishes and making sure that they are getting the support
necessary to live life on their own terms. The process starts by
the quality assurance manager, LeAnn Bieber, randomly selecting a
person with a disability to participate in a VOICE review. (The process
is person-first, so the QA manager contacts the individual first.)
The participant, along with a number of people close to them (their
Quality Circle), is interviewed at length. Interviewers take notes,
sort the results into categories, and put together a Learning Portrait,
which is intended to engage the participant and his or her Quality
Circle in a non-threatening and constructive manner. Finally, information
generated from the VOICE reviews is used by the Quality Assurance
Review Council to recommend licensing actions. The county then recommends
final licensing decisions to the MN Department of Human Services.
Participants speak highly
of the VOICE process. Jon C. Huebner says: “My
VOICE review made my life better. The two people who interviewed me
and talked with me were so patient even when I perseverated. They understood
my autism and if they didn’t understand something about me,
they were respectful and asked me and then I explained so they could
understand what I meant. That felt good. My amazing VOICE review
helped me become stronger and braver.”
Jon’s brother James
E. Huebner was equally enthusiastic, “It’s
hard for me to put into words how fantastic my VOICE review was for
me, but I will try. When I had my VOICE review and I put together a
group of people, with my family, who are important to me too, and they
are my Quality Circle members. One way I can show you that VOICE helped
me is that I led my own ‘triple iiiP’ IEP meeting with
my twin brother. I believe in myself more and I became braver to
try things that are difficult for me, because I know that not only
will my family support me, but my quality circle will support me
too. Indeed the VOICE review is for the whole country and even the
whole world.”
For the past ten years Minnesota Region 10 Quality Assurance has been
doing Licensing and Quality Assurance using the following principles:
Person Driven, Comprehensive, Integrated, Value Based, Continuous Review
Process, and Continuous Improvement.
Ultimately, the goal
is better service. “The purpose of the
Minnesota Region 10 Quality Assurance System,” says LeAnn Bieber
of Region 10 staff, “is to continually improve the quality of
services provided to individuals with developmental disabilities. We
do this by assessing the value people experience through the support
and services received at home, at work or school and throughout the
community. By combining results from an ongoing series of these assessments,
we are able to develop an accurate sense of the patterns of support
in our community. We are also able to identify ‘best practices,’ which
could be shared throughout the system, and change areas where improvement
is needed.”
What speaks most to
the power of VOICE is that the system is spreading. “When
stakeholders in other areas learn about our efforts around quality
and licensing through the VOICE process, they naturally want MN Region
10 Quality Assurance in their community,” says Dan Zimmer of
Region 10 staff. “Three areas of the state are now using VOICE
as a Quality Improvement Process. Through these efforts we hope that
VOICE will eventually grow to a statewide alternative licensing process.” ![]()
Karen Larson is Conference
and Outreach Coordinator for Minnesota Region 10 Quality Assurance.
If you would like more info visit our Web site at www.mn-voice.org or
contact Dan Zimmer at 507-287-2032 or danz@mn-voice.org
The Deep of the
Full Moon
Purple is the color of forget-me-not,
Purple is a whisper.
Purple is proud, reflective like the deep,
The soul of the deep sea,
swimming under the full moon.
Poem written by participants in the workshop at Courage
Center, June 25, 2007
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