Advancing States

Long-term services and supports: Advancing States provides a variety of membership services designed to facilitate the exchange of information, promising practices and policies among state aging disability agencies and medicaid long-term services and supports programs. Membership services include telephonic and onsite technical assistance and support; a national clearinghouse of information hcbs, a website, an on-line training center, a weekly electronic newsletter and monthly all-state calls.advancing States has a number of initiatives focused on long-term services and supports (ltss) and mltss programs. The national core indicators-aging and disabilities (nci-ad) is an initiative designed to support States' interest in assessing the performance of their ltss programs and delivery systems in order to improve services for older adults and people with physical disabilities. Nci-ad is a collaborative effort between Advancing States and the human services research institute. Nci-ad assesses outcomes beyond health and safety to address important long-recognized gaps in ltss data, such as social, community, and person-centered goals.the mltss institute is a collaboration between Advancing States and national medicaid health plans intended to drive improvements in key mltss policy issues, facilitate sharing and learning among States, and provide direct and intensive technical assistance to States and health plans.advancing interrai offers States tailored support to enhance the quality and utilization of assessment data, promoting the use of "using better data, better." This is particularly crucial as hcbs programs become more complex and costly, necessitating accurate and reliable data for functional eligibility, person-centered planning, and program improvements. Interrai provides a suite of dependable systems honed over 30 years of research and used in over 35 countries and 24 u.s. States, offering robust measures, assessment protocols, and quality indicators. Led by Advancing States, supported by hcbs strategies and interrai fellows, the Advancing interrai package aids States in collecting and leveraging data efficiently to enhance program equity and efficiency. It includes support for screening, waitlist prioritization, level of care determination, support planning, quality management, budgeting, and care management. States receive cross-state collaboration opportunities, comprehensive training, onboarding infrastructure analysis, operations and policy guidance, data analyses and reporting assistance, and customized technical support. Direct care careers focuses on enhancing the quality of life for older adults and individuals with disabilities by providing rewarding career opportunities and education in the direct care field. It offers one place for job matching, worker registry, training and development programs that equip individuals with the necessary skills and knowledge to provide high-quality care. Direct care careers also collaborates with States, providers and self-directing participants to promote the value of direct care work and to create a supportive and inclusive work environment. These efforts aim to address workforce shortages in the direct care sector and to ensure that individuals receiving care receive the best possible support and assistance.

Enhanced technical assistance: Advancing States provides enhanced technical assistance and support under separate contracts directly with States and/or with other consultancies. Advancing States assists States in providing programmatic, operational, training and technical support to States.

Meetings: Advancing States hosts two conferences per year. The home and community based services (hcbs) conference brings together federal and state policymakers, advocates and academics from across the nation to share innovative state practices and policies in hcbs programs that support individuals of all ages and abilities. Advancing States also hosts a spring member meeting to promote promising practices and highlight changes in federal policies that impact state programs. The membership meeting is held in conjunction with the managed long-term services and supports (mltss) symposium that provides participants with key issues in mltss and addresses the opportunities and challenges in managed care.

Resources centers and training: the national information and referral support center (i&r support center) provides training, technical assistance, and information resources to build capacity and promote continuing development of aging and disability information and referral services nationwide.advancing States participated as a partner with two national vaccination grant projects funded by the administration for community living (acl). In december 2022, the federal administration for community living awarded grants totaling $125 million to usaging and ncoa to boost covid-19 and annual flu vaccination rates among older adults and people with disabilities. Usaging established the aging and disability vaccination collaborative (advc), distributing funds to organizations for community vaccine clinics, in-home vaccinations, transportation to vaccination sites, and outreach and education efforts. Ncoa's initiative, funded at $50 million, awarded grants to over 180 community-based organizations and 150 senior centers for tailored outreach, vaccine clinics, and support services. Both programs aim to increase vaccine uptake and overall wellbeing among older adults and individuals with disabilities through targeted campaigns and partnerships within the aging and disability networks.