System Breakthrough for Excellence

• Updates
• Report
• Committee Members
• System Breakthrough Home
• Acknowledgement and Summary of Public Comments

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Overview

MRDD's Purpose:

Currently, the Department of Mental Health/Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities is responsible for ensuring that today's support system for persons with developmental disabilities is effectively meeting the needs of eligible persons and their families in a manner that maximizes accessibility and availability of appropriate services, informed choice, community integration, health and consumer safety.

What is the System Breakthrough for Excellence Project?

The purpose of the System Breakthrough for Excellence project is to design a system to meet the needs of the division's customers now and in the future. The project aims to identify the existing consumer population and its needs, while at the same time considering socio-demographic trends that predict changes in the consumer profile over the next decade.

The System Breakthrough for Excellence project is being facilitated by the Office of Missouri Results Initiative, an agency independent of the Division of MRDD, that provides customer satisfaction and process improvement consultation to various state departments.

The goals/outcomes of the project include:

• Identify current customer groups and their desired care outcomes;
• Identify gaps in service delivery (what they want that we currently do not provide);
• Close those gaps;
• Identify socio-demographic trends that predict changes in the customer profile over the next decade;
• Develop a financially feasible plan to effectively meet the changing customer outcomes in the next decade;
• Develop a prioritized plan of pro-action.

Organization of the System Breakthrough for Excellence Project:

Steering Committee: A 30- member steering committee was developed in November, 2002 by the Department of Mental Health. The steering committee members include consumers, family members, service providers, advocates, legislators and state staff. Their purpose is to provide guidance and submit final recommendations to the Division Director of MRDD, Dr. Anne Deaton. The goals of the steering committee were to develop a list of questions that needed to be addressed in order to achieve the desired outcomes of the project, identify consumer segments, form workgroups to focus on specific consumer segments, and help organize focus groups with those consumer segments. With feedback and recommendations from consumer segments and workgroups, the Steering committee will make recommendations to Dr. Deaton.

Workgroups: Workgroups of eight to 12 people were developed to gather data and information, gather customer input through focus groups, and frame recommendations and strategies to support the desired outcomes for the steering committee. Eight work groups were formed, each focusing on one consumer segment. The workgroups are comprised of MRDD staff and relevant stakeholders including consumers, families, providers and advocates. Each workgroup was formed with two co-chairs: a parent or family member and a staff person with the Division.

Project Process:

First, the steering committee developed questions that needed to be addressed by workgroups and consumer segments. The questions follow:

• Who are the State's customers today, what are their needs, and how and in what settings are they being met?
• Who will be the State's customers over the next decade and what are their needs likely to be?
• In what ways is the current service system (habilitation centers, regional centers, and community residential and in-home services) limited in serving today's consumers? Tomorrow's consumers?
• What would be an "ideal" service infrastructure to support today's consumers and provide flexibility to prepare for tomorrow's consumers?
• How does the current service infrastructure compare with the ideal?
• What changes are needed to improve today's infrastructure and bring the system in greater sync with consumer needs?
• What full range of resources is needed to effect those changes?
• What action steps (immediate, intermediate, and long range) are needed to secure resources and bring about the desired infrastructure change?
• What timeliness can be attached to the action steps?
• What coalition of persons is needed to succeed at each step and evaluate progress?

Second, the steering committee identified the work groups and identified the eight consumer segments of MRDD. They are:

• People with Mild and Moderate Disabilities
• Children's Services
• People who are Medically Fragile
• People who have Autism
• People with Significant or Multiple Disabilities
• People who have Dual Diagnoses
• People with High Risk Behaviors or a Forensic Classification
• Young Adults Transitioning from High School

Updates

• January, 2005