Inside Network Accreditation
This initiative is focused on enhancing human services in Maryland to improve the quality of supports and the quality of life for people receiving services. Due to the demands of Network Accreditation, it is crucial that all stakeholders are invested in the process, embracing Network Accreditation and its impact on people’s lives.
Maryland DDA
The vision of the Maryland Department of Health’s Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) is that people with developmental disabilities will have full lives in the communities of their choice where they are included, participate, and are active citizens. This vision is pursued through their mission to create a flexible, person-centered, family-oriented system of supports so people can have full lives.
A State-Wide Initiative
To help reinforce and advance these efforts, DDA has partnered with CQL | The Council on Quality and Leadership to pursue CQL Network Accreditation. This offers people supported and support providers a proven framework for quality monitoring and enhancement, encompassing a meaningful partnership for deep-rooted and results-focused transformation, by exploring the impact that services are having on people unlocking full lives.
Key Partners
In Maryland’s pursuit of CQL Network Accreditation, CQL will be working directly with DDA and members of a Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) in capacity-building, quality monitoring, and quality enhancement. At the provider-level, human service organizations will be working directly with DDA and the QIO on the specific assessments and integration of standards. While it is not a requirement, human service organizations in Maryland can also pursue provider-level CQL Accreditation if desired.
About Accreditation
CQL Network Accreditation offers states, provider organizations, people receiving services, and other stakeholders guidance, support, and partnership in improving quality through proprietary tools and internationally-recognized person-centered approaches. It encompasses training, workshops, planning meetings, agency assessments, on-site visits, individual interviews, policy reviews, focus groups, and more.
The Four Stages
1. Capacity-Building & Certification
CQL will build DDA and QIO staff capacity in information-gathering, outcome measurement, training, and data analysis. This initial investment will have benefits before, during, and after the accreditation.
2. Network Evaluation & Analysis
Leading up to Network Accreditation visits, CQL-Certified DDA and QIO staff will gather data at the level of people receiving supports, provider operations, and regional and statewide network management.
3. During The Accreditation
The content of CQL Network Accreditation is grounded in decades of CQL leadership and peer-reviewed research and based on four important tools including Personal Outcome Measures®, Basic Assurances®, Network Measures, Person-centered Excellence Indicators.
4. Infrastructure & Engagement
To ensure success and stakeholder investment and engagement, the process will need to be transparent from the beginning and involve a wide variety of people from across the state and regions.
Unlocking Full Lives
The Key To Full Lives
What are the components of a full life? How is it defined? When is someone living a full life? A full life is explored at an individual level, uniquely defined person-by-person. Understanding what a full life means to each person begins with person-centered discovery through listening and learning. People receiving supports and support providers can then use the information to unlock full lives. Especially for people receiving services, full lives are impacted by the supports they are provided.
The Key To Improving Quality
Improving quality centers on the person receiving supports being the driving force for change in their life. In addition, quality of life is not tied to only certain aspects of a person’s experience. All support providers – including organizations, loved ones, and other natural supports –play a critical role in assisting people to unlock full lives. The challenge in this is ensuring that consistent philosophies, tools, and practices are used to provide a holistic approach to supporting people.
The Key To Accreditation
Through the use of consistent philosophies, tools, and practices, people supported and support providers can utilize standardized frameworks to improve quality. CQL Network Accreditation offers people supported, support providers, families, friends, advocacy groups, community members, and others clear expectations, identical processes, and uniform guidance for unlocking full lives. By integrating these components, all stakeholders can track progress and identify areas of improvement.
Accreditation Components
Network Accreditation is different from traditional CQL Accreditation, as DDA and the QIO carry out the processes. While the application will differ, the components will remain similar.
- Pre-Accreditation Planning Meetings
Conference calls covering the accreditation process - Organizational Self-Assessments
Organization evaluates its operations, validated by CQL - On-Site Visits
CQL visits and reviews sites where you provide supports - Personal Outcome Measures® Interviews
Conversations with people supported and staff
- Basic Assurances® Reviews
Evaluation of fundamental requirements for agencies - Focus Groups
Separate discussions with staff and people supported - Data Collection & Analysis
Collection and analysis of outcomes and supports data - Ongoing Support
Continual collaboration between CQL and organization
Accreditation Tools
Basic Assurances® evaluate the essential, fundamental, and non-negotiable requirements for all organizations, involving issues of health, safety, and human security, looking at the provision of safeguards from the person’s perspective. These are not statements of intent but demonstrations of successful operations, where the effectiveness of systems or policies are determined in practice, person by person.
Personal Outcome Measures® (POM) are a powerful tool to explore quality of life areas involving choices, relationships, rights, goals, dreams, employment, and more. In a Personal Outcome Measures® interview, people receiving services share information about the presence, importance, and achievement of outcomes. Their support providers then discuss the services that the organization has in place for those outcomes.
Shared Values represent an alignment in culture and philosophies between CQL’s and the organization’s values. These values influence management decisions, organizational priorities, and the character of the workforce. Most organizational decisions related to budget, human resources, or regulatory matters are ultimately decisions about values – what people and organizations believe are important.
Person-Centered Excellence® assesses quality improvement initiatives, including how the organization can implement or enhance those associated practices. The findings from this process can then facilitate strategic discussions about aligning the organization’s mission to make an organizational transformation.
