IDHS Grant Awards in Fiscal Year 2013

The state has significantly improved and expanded the continuum of programs serving youth at various stages of juvenile justice system involvement. Improved crisis response models divert youth from unnecessary system involvement. Innovative Redeploy Illinois programs keep young people out of juvenile prisons, while new reentry projects seek to help youth return safely and successfully to their communities after leaving facilities. Until now, however, Illinois has not thoroughly aligned programs with evidence-based principles.

As a result of this award, the Commission and the Illinois Department of Human Services will build upon strong policy and program networks to implement the Standardized Program Evaluation Protocol in selected program sites. In doing so, the Commission and its state and local partners will advance shared efforts to ensure that scarce fiscal resources are directed to effective, evidence-based programs and that young people in contact with the Illinois juvenile justice system receive services which address their needs, build strengths, produce positive outcomes for families and communities and enhance public safety.

The SNAP caseload in Illinois has increased by 59% in the past five years, while at the same time the number of caseworkers servicing these cases has decreased by 13.3%. The result is Illinois having some of the highest caseloads in the country, with some in excess of 2600 cases per worker. It is incredibly difficult to provide quality service to customers with these ratios.

Over the past year, Illinois has worked closely with three model DHS local offices to examine current policies and procedures, test changes and monitor the results, and identify and document the most impactful changes to improve the environment of the local offices for staff and customers. Through this process, the model offices have shifted from caseloads to a process management or task-based approach to casework, where each caseworker is assigned to a task rather than a caseload. The data from the model offices indicate that these changes have brought significant improvements in SNAP timeliness for both new and renewal applications. Additionally, offices have found that these changes allow them to provide more eligible households with expedited SNAP benefits.

The successful implementation of business process re-engineering will create a system that is truly responsive to customers. Based on this vision, we have identified some key indicators - including improvements in SNAP timeliness, decreased churning of customers, and reduced customer wait times - that will indicate progress toward this vision. If progress is shown in these key indicators, we anticipate that long-term outcomes will include more individuals and families accessing SNAP and other work supports, which will lead to the increased financial stability of low-income Illinois families.

 The grant for the Illinois Interoperability and Integration Project (the Interoperability Project), describes our plan for establishing and implementing a governance model for the Illinois Healthcare and Human Services Framework Project (the Framework). The Framework is a seven-agency collaborative focused on the development of a modern, horizontally-integrated system to support the core processes of service delivery - application, eligibility determination, casework, management of contracted service providers, and analytics. The Framework's key goals are to improve service access and delivery; increase operational efficiency and program integrity; and, create a capacity for sophisticated analysis and data-driven decision-making across the Illinois healthcare and human services space. These goals are directly aligned with those of this grant award.

The Interoperability Project will design and develop a sustainable governance model for the Framework that will guide the partner agencies and programs toward a new paradigm of "build once, use many". The intensive discovery, documentation and design phase of planning begins this fall; as a consequence, Illinois is well positioned to leverage the opportunities presented by the federally-funded MMIS, ACA and HIE initiatives. Maximizing those opportunities (and navigating all of the complexities they represent) requires a governance process that is robust, goal-oriented, equitable and sustainable.

Once the method has been road-tested and refined, the project will make its findings, research, and an Interoperability Handbook with roadmap and tools available to other jurisdictions that are contemplating cross-program or cross-agency system development efforts.

To enable the State of Illinois to evaluate options, develop plans and implement project governance structures, the DHS was awarded $1,125,000. This grant application identifies key staff to lead this effort, along with milestone deliverables which will be produced as part of the Project.

The Illinois Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) will integrate controlled substance prescription data into Electronic Health Record systems; share data with eight states and alert prescribers and dispensers when patients exceed evidence-based protocols. EHR integration will include emergency departments, short and long-term care inpatient settings and ambulatory outpatient clinics. Real-time, PMP data access will remain for prescribers and dispensers.

FY 13 and FY 14 Goals:

• Implement the integration of PMP data into EHR systems
• Implement interstate interoperability and data sharing.
• Enhance PMP infrastructure

Key Objectives:

• Implement three EHR sites for PMP integration by the end of the grant period.
  Automate and increase the production of unsolicited reports by 30%.
• Share PMP data with at least eight states including two geographically bordering states.
  Serve thousands of E.R. patients and 300+ prescribers.

• Increase interstate interoperability and data sharing.
• Expand PMP usage.
• Enhance security and enhance functioning of data analysis
• Help prevent Medicaid fraud and collaborate with universities for research opportunities

• Utilize the National PMIX Architecture; begin sharing data with other states by FFY 13
• Expand PMP Usage
• Enhance security and enhance functioning of the PMP
• Send unsolicited reports to prescribers and dispensers
• Decrease Medicaid fraud and abuse
• Develop system for drug courts and behavioral health treatment centers to monitor drug usage

Federal data indicates that 653 refugees over the age of 60 arrived to Illinois during the past three fiscal years which places Illinois as 8th of the 54 eligible states and territories in terms of senior arrivals. More than 80% of the refugee seniors to be served will come from Iraq, Bhutan and Burma/Myanmar, with the remainder coming from an additional 15 countries. The 653 count does not include secondary migrants or asylees which are estimated to include an additional 35 eligible seniors. Comprehensive services will prioritize newer arrivals and refugee seniors who arrived within the last 36 months. However, providers will extend services to those who may have arrived before 2009 as resources allow.

With the requested funds the program will:

• Link, as appropriate Elderly refugees to Older Americans Act (OAA) services
• Provide English language instruction specifically tailored to meet senior needs, increase independent functioning, and reduce social isolation;
• Assist seniors in accessing public benefits, including health related resources and help seniors gain a basic understanding of money/finances
• Provide refugee and mainstream services staff with regular training to ensure each is familiar with the tools and resources each entity provides and provide cross referrals as needed.
• Refer refugees resident five years or more to state-funded citizenship services as appropriate.

The Coalition of Limited English Speaking Elderly (CLESE) in partnership with six resettlement agencies: Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago, Heartland Human Care Services, RefugeeOne, World Relief Chicago and World Relief Dupage (VOLAGs) will serve a minimum of 300 elderly refugees during the first project year.

Holistic, family-focused services will prioritize new arrivals and those refugee students who arrived in the past three years that have special needs and have remaining psycho-social or academic challenges. Adolescents (grades 9-12) are considered especially vulnerable and in need of intensive support. The major needs are facilitating student English language acquisition, providing support for homework assignments, facilitating school/parent communications, securing interpretation/translation, and professional development for teachers. The activities are designed to ensure that refugee students attain Illinois Learning Standards, English Language Proficiency Standards, and specified achievement under No Child Left Behind.

The funds will enable student/parent orientation to American education; individualized tutoring; after-school enrichment; translation/interpretation to facilitate parent/teacher conferences; specialized summer academic and wellness programs; social adjustment and mental health; as well as professional development for ESL and mainstream teachers serving refugee adolescents.

Services will be provided by the Chicago Public Schools (12 elementary (K-8) and three Secondary (9-12) schools) and nine refugee service providers, including one refugee mental health program. The proposed network will be accessible to 97% of the target population.

Safety seats will be distributed from an IDHS warehouse to events that will reach low-income families across the state. Certified technicians will correctly install seats during these events and check existing seats for proper installation.

The IDHS CSSCD program will also offer a Child Passenger Safety Certification Training for 25 individuals, to certify them to teach parents and caregivers the proper installation and/or re-installation procedures of child restraints. This four-hour training will be conducted by the Illinois State Police utilizing information and materials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In addition to the certification training, the CSSCD program will conduct four "Operation Kids" classes for parents and staff of hospitals, schools, community organizations and WIC clinics. These classes are intended to raise participant awareness of the importance of safely transporting a child and to learn and practice correct child safety seat installation methods. They will be conducted in collaboration with Southern Illinois University/Carbondale and the Southwest Illinois Occupant Protection Resource Center.