The District of Columbia Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration

Industry

Government

Solution Highlights

	Manage the day-to-day needs and services of the consumer.
	Track details about all consumer services.
	Monitor consumer satisfaction and outcomes.
	Track details about all consumers and providers.
	Manage the quality of services consumers receive and survey their satisfaction and quality of life.
	Manage the benefits of consumers who are eligible for Medicaid waivers and Social Security Insurance.
	Manage consumer and provider Incidents.
	Manage consumer quality assurance initiatives by developing an issues tracking system.
	Manages problems and concerns related to consumer services.

Profile

The Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration (MRDDA) is exclusively devoted to the mental health needs of persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. The Mission of MRDDA is to provide information and services, to the District of Columbia citizens, concerned with the quality of life and choices for persons with mental retardation within residential options including home, community etc. In addition, the requirements of the federal government, courts, advocates, consumers and their families, guardians, and legal counsel affect the quality of service delivery to the consumers.

The Challenge

The major goal of this project was to bring MRDDA into compliance with a court mandate, Evans Exit Plan, by building an enterprise application to manage services provided to persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities, to be completed by a series of aggressively established court ordered deadlines.

Challenge Highlights

	To build an enterprise solution to meet a court mandate, Evans Exit Plan, to be completed by aggressively established court deadlines.
	Increase the timeliness of information for decision makers.
	Provide a common data-sharing environment among care providers, advocates, and MRDDA personnel.
	Implement a “best in class” business process to support the agency’s mission of providing high quality care.
	Develop a secure infrastructure that protects the privacy of agency and client information.
	Provide a comprehensive trend-reporting module for management and consumer advocates.
	Gain client acceptance.

The Solution

The District of Columbia’s Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration (MRDDA) had the critical mission of meeting a court mandate, the Evans Exit Plan. MRDDA looked to Obverse to implement an enterprise-wide internet application, to support the mental health needs of persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. The system needed to support the vision of securely sharing client data, automating the process of providing services, including Medicaid waivers, administration, and tracking unmet supports. Obverse developed the MRDDA Consumer Information System (MCIS) to meet the client’s business needs, and successfully implemented the system by all court established deadlines.

Developing a solution of this scale required a complete assessment of MRDDA’s business process and a full understanding of the Evans Exit Plan. Planning involved using proven methods in Unified Modeling Language (UML) to convey the solution and to ensure a sound plan before proceeding to development. It was crucial to demonstrate every part of the system in order to successfully meet strict deadlines set by the court. The development phase had to progress without any delays from a business process standpoint.

MCIS’s Case Management for individuals, or consumers, with developmental disabilities has two components – Intake case management and ongoing case management. Together these two components include the responsibility for locating, managing, coordinating, and monitoring:

	All proposed services.
	Needed medical, social, and other publicly funded services.
	Informal community supports needed by eligible persons.

Intake case management includes assisting the consumer through the application process, authorizing any needed assessments to determine eligibility, collecting current consumer demographics, diagnostics, medical coverage, medications, referral information, and effecting a smooth transition to an ongoing case manager. Once a consumer is determined to be eligible, the consumer is then assigned to an ongoing case manager. The ongoing case manager then aids in providing needed services to the consumer.

MCIS will be monitoring the quality of care provided by case reviews which focuses on the consumer’s progress in meeting goals and objectives, established through the consumer’s service plan.

Oversight of providers is conducted to assure that services are delivered timely, and are of high quality, and that service utilization is in line with authorized service amounts. The case manager monitors the satisfaction and outcomes of the consumers receiving services.

MRDDA’s Quality Assurance Unit captures problems and concerns related to consumer and provider services. The objective is to record responsibilities, track progress, and spot delays quickly and provider solutions to problems or concerns.

MCIS also has the ability to accept electronic documents that may be necessary to provide services to consumers. These documents may be in any format, scanned or electronically generated, and then uploaded to the MCIS system for all authorized users to observe, giving the ability to access documents easily and quickly.

The Result

	MRDDA met requirements set by the court mandate, Evans Exit Plan.
	MRDDA gained a reliable, scalable, case management system.
	Availability of consumer information to aid in improving the quality of services provided.
	Detailed consumer information can be accessed in seconds.
	Information collected is now standardized and more accurate.
	Electronic data entry forms are implemented to reduce human data entry errors and increase the speed of business.
	Able to integrate data collected from all relevant MRDDA departments.
	Reports available to manage the quality of services provided.

Before the MCIS application, MRDDA relied on a paper system to conduct daily business. The implementation of electronic forms drastically reduced human data entry problems and increased the speed of business. When a consumer arrives, the user can retrieve information and review it on screen in an instant.

Since consumer data is already in the system, more time is available to the case managers to provide high quality of care. Consumer records have become more understandable and the case managers are able to focus on the consumer’s progress in meeting goals and objectives established through a service plan.

MRDDA is now in compliance with the court mandate, Evans Exit Plan, and Obverse was proud to be a part of the process. The bottom line, with the implementation of an enterprise solution that aids in managing services provided to persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities, MRDDA is now able to focus more efficiently and effectively in delivering services to the needy.

The Technology

MCIS was developed using MS SQL Server 2000 on a Microsoft Windows 2000 platform. The front-end was developed in ASP, JavaScript, VBScript, Visual Basic, XML, and Seagate Crystal Reports.