The National Center on Advancing Person-Centered Practices and Systems will provide public education and individualized technical assistance to states to improve capacity in person-centered services.
On January 7, 2019, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the creation of the National Center on Advancing Person-Centered Practices and Systems (NCAPPS).
The NCAPPS is designed to help states improve long-term services and supports through developing and implementing person-centered practices. In their announcement, ACL and CMS define person-centered practice as “the alignment of services and systems to ensure the person has access to the full benefits of community living and to deliver services in a way that facilitates the achievement of the person’s desired outcomes.”
A key function of this new initiative will be the provision of technical assistance or expert advice and education on person-centeredness. Some of these will be publicly available, and where possible LeadingAge will monitor and participate in technical assistance activities (e.g., webinars) and share relevant findings with our members.
The first webinar will take place on January 29 at 3:00 PM EST. Registration can be found here.
In addition to public technical assistance, NCAPPS offers states the opportunity to apply for individualized technical assistance. This will allow states to access tailored, in-depth support from person-centered thinking, planning and practice experts and help build their own capacity in person-centered services. Per the application, states are able to request up to 300 hours of technical assistance from NCAPPS. States who are interested in this support must apply by February 12.
While this technical assistance opportunity is geared toward state governments, LeadingAge members could benefit from the education their states may receive through this initiative. We encourage members to reach out to their respective states and recommend they apply for this opportunity. Members could also suggest to states what topics within person-centeredness to include on their applications.
The NCAPPS marks continued effort by CMS and ACL toward supporting person-centered care, following the CMS’s Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration and Balancing Incentive Program and ACL’s No Wrong Door System Initiative. These three efforts have been supported by, among others, the Older Americans Act, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, and the Affordable Care Act.
