The California Alliance of Information & Referral Services (CAIRS) is developing a new method to improve the service delivery of community health and social services in California. The 3-digits dialing method will simplify consumer access to and promote awareness of the vast information pool available to consumers. 2-1-1 will help abridge the existing gap between services and consumers from a lack of and even confusing information dissemination. A simple one dial service that mimics the efficiency of 9-1-1 for emergency response will also attempt to shorten the time-consuming process of frustrating information search.

The process of finding the right organization alone may be difficult, not to mention finding a helpful someone within the organization who is knowledgeable of meeting your needs and answering questions. With this problem in mind, the goal of 2-1-1 is to uniformly organize the numerous community health and social services information and referral programs to one convenient single access. There are currently many hotlines, toll-free numbers created for similar purpose, but a simple 3-digits number is easier to memorized, and will attempt to consolidate information. The service provides access to both government and non-profit community resources, hence it eliminates the need to call multiple numbers and repeat the same information request to different parties.

The major advantages of 2-1-1 endorsed by CAIR are that it ensures fair and easy access to services by reducing potentially frustrating information search; increase efficiency of the overall service network with one single helpline means eliminating duplication of similar information phone lines. Simultaneously, the frequency of calling the "wrong" service may be reduced. More importantly, by simplifying information research process, it is hoped the service would benefit consumers who are most vulnerable - people who have difficulty accessing information without assistance, such as those who are disabled, non-English speaking, illiterate, and frail elderly persons.

CAIRS is in the process of implementing 2-1-1 in California beginning on a county level and will gradually extend the consistent standard to statewide. The organization also emphasizes that 2-1-1 will not replace existing Information and Referral (I&R) services, but rather serves as an extension. Other specifications of 2-1-1 system include that it will be locally based with one corresponding system per county, the services will be non-commercial, and provided free of charge. Furthermore, the individual centers will be available for service 24 hours a day all year round, and will comply with professional I&R standards. To ensure wide range of accessibility, there will be multi-lingual information access and be user-friendly to people with disabilities.

To help support and implement 2-1-1 Dialing to the California Public Utilities Commission, please visit www.cairs.org for a sample letter.

(Source of article is taken from the CAIRS website)

On November 19, 2001 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced a new initiative to help Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries locate appropriate, quality nursing homes. The effort is to improve the long existing problem of inconsistent quality of care in Medicare and Medicaid programs, by committing to improve quality of services as well as information access to finding suitable nursing homes.

The initiative will begin in a pilot project starting in January 2002, where the Center of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will implement its measures in five states - Colorado, Maryland, Ohio, Rohde Island, and Washington. The project includes collecting and publishing accurate nursing home quality information in each of these states and consumers can expect to see the published results in April 2002. The difference in quality identified in nursing homes will be acknowledged by consumers, clinicians, and healthcare providers to help people compare the available options, and also as a means of control to ensure and encourage nursing home providers to comply with quality standard of services. The resulting information will be available online at www.medicare.gov for convenient public access; it will also be simultaneously disseminated through local Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) that are formerly known as Medicare's Peer Review Organizations.

The pilot project will be further developed to include risk-adjusted quality information on nursing homes in all states. There are 11 identified risk-adjusted quality measures that will be critical concerns for beneficiaries, in which 7 are chronic care qualities including: physical restraints, pressure sores, weight loss, infections, pain management, and declines in activities of daily living. The other 4 measures are post-accurate care qualities including: managing delirium, pain management, improvement in walking and re-hospitalizations.

The nationwide implementation is scheduled to take place in October 2002. To further ensure effectiveness of the project, QIOs will make certain the focus and priorities of people who use the information data are accommodated to through improvement in quality of care. In the future, a greater scale of consumer information research may be conducted on home health agencies, and hospitals, where choosing one's healthcare provider would be less daunting and the scattered information will be more consolidated and straightforward.

This new consumer information project will expand on the currently available comparison tools that are "Medicare Health Plan Compare," "Nursing Home Compare," and "Dialysis Facility Compare." These tools are available online at www.medicare.gov as well as through 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). The toll-free phone service is accessible to beneficiaries 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

(Source of article is taken from FIRSTGOV for Seniors at: www.seniors.gov/articles/1101/quality-nursing.htm)

Florida, A promising research team of specialists in University of Florida (UF) is recently formed in partnership with private industry to establish a new rehabilitation research center. The center aims to promote successful aging with a recent $4.5 million federal grant and reliable expertise from an advisory board consisting of older consumers to identify real-life challenges in daily living for older adults with disabilities, and the support they need to live with greater independence.

In addition to the federal fund, UF Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Technology for Successful Aging will be funded by the National Institute for Disability, Rehabilitation, and Research, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education. It will be jointly operated by the UF colleges of Health Professions and Engineering, and the UF Institute on Aging.

The goal of promoting successful aging entails specifically the use of assistive technology in daily living and exploring the possibility of current research to further reduce the need of assistance from professionals, families, and friends. Hence, allowing greater independence for older adults who are living with disabilities, both physically and cognitively.

By incorporating high technology advances around the home, the Center aims to examine their “effectiveness and [impact] on health, independence, and quality of life”, as expressed by the director William C. Mann. To ensure the Center’s research focuses on the most updated technology, the Center also extends the initiative to connect with the private industry. Companies such as Honeywell, IBM, Lifeline, Philips Medical Systems, and Motorola are all involved in this new effort.

More emphasis will be placed on increasing safety measures around the home through monitoring and communications systems that are user-friendly. One of the many products undergoing investigation at the Center is the “smart phone” which contains miniaturized computers. The project is a joint effort between UF College of Engineering and Motorola’s iDEN group in Florida. Researchers envision the phone to be helpful to older adults with impaired physical, cognitive, and sensory skills.

Some possible features in designing the computerized phone include opening and lock doors, turn appliances on/off, programs to give audible instructions or reminders regarding medication, as well as alerting people when assistance is required. Moreover, the programmable feature in the phone may eventually allow dialing a designated pharmacy to order refills for medications and arrange for delivery.

Other collaborators to help further promote the effort of this promising organization are federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Administration on Aging; major aging-related organizations like AARP, American Society on Aging, National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, American Medical Association and Association of Tech Act Programs.

For more information, contact Arline Philips-Han at (352) 392-9542, or email arline@vpha.health.ufl.edu.