Comment by Dec 2 on Draft Federal Person-Centered Planning Definitions, Competencies
NYAPRS E-News November 21, 2019
NYAPRS Note: In 2019 the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Community Living (ACL) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requested that the National Quality Forum (NQF) to convene a committee of experts with lived and professional experience in long-term services and supports (LTSS), and with the acute/primary/chronic care systems to:
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Offer a functional, person-first definition of person-centered planning.
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Outline a core set of competencies for persons facilitating the planning process, including details of foundational skills, relational and communication skills, philosophy, resource knowledge, and the policy and regulatory context of person-centered planning.
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Consider the systems characteristics thast support person-centered planning such as system-level processes, infrastructure, data, and resources, along with guidance on how to maintain system-level person-centeredness.
The attached report represents an interim summary of the Committee’s efforts to date.
As one of the 3 items for which you can provide comments, I’ve included below a copy of the draft definition:
Person-Centered Planning Definition
The Committee developed the following definition, which seeks to empower the person in the process of planning their own life:
Person-centered planning is an approach to organizing your supports and services so that you can live the kind of life you want for yourself. This type of planning usually happens in a meeting or a series of meetings, and there are some important things to make sure the planning process stays focused on you:
• You should be supported in taking whatever leadership role you prefer in this meeting, up to, and including, running the meeting yourself. There may also be someone else called a facilitator there to help guide the process and make sure it stays focused on what is important to you.
• Person-centered planning takes a positive approach, meaning it is based on what you are good at or like.
• The conversation in the meeting, and the plan that comes out of it, should be about your goals, dreams, needs, wants, things you like and don’t like, and what is important to you in your life.
• You may not know these things on your own, especially if you have not been able to experience much or have not been given many choices in your life. Other members of your person-centered planning team are there to help you think through the kind of life you want for yourself.
A good person-centered planning process will involve conversations that help you get control over decisions that impact your life and your experience receiving services. To do this, your team will want to learn more about many areas of your life, including things like:
• The relationships that are the most important to you and who you want to spend time with
• The best ways to talk or write to you
• Where you want to live and what you want your home to be like
• The community that you want to be in
• Activities or hobbies you would like to do
• Special types of help that you might need
• People and resources in your community that can help you
• Things that are important for your health, safety, and overall quality of life
As you work to create your person-centered plan with your provider or team, there are some important rights you should be aware of:
• Person-centered planning is based on the core belief that you have the right to make choices and to take some risks in trying new things.
• In some situations, there might be limits placed on decision making (e.g., if you have a legal guardian), or your plan may be modified, or changed, to make sure you are safe from certain risks. Even in these situations, there are rules in place to protect your rights, and these should be explained to you in your meeting.
• The person(s) helping you to make your person-centered plan should discuss with you a range of professional (paid) services and natural (unpaid) supports so you can then make the choices that feel right to you based on your preferences and values. You also don’t have to agree to recommended services that you don’t want to have.
• The things that are important to you in your life may change over time. Your planning process and plan should change along with you. You can change your plan at any time. It must be revisited at least every year.
Public Comments are due by December 2 at https://login.qualityforum.org/login.aspx?ActionId=&ReturnUrl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.qualityforum.org%2fcommenting%2fpubliccommentform.aspx%7cproject%3d89422%5eform%3d170 (you’ll have to create a free account).