Identifying effectiveness and areas for improvement in an innovative program serving medically complex individuals with disabilities

Background: Community Case Management (CCM), a partnership between UMass Medical School and MassHealth (Massachusetts Medicaid), serves children and adults with highly complex, chronic and challenging medical conditions/disabilities. By creating a single point of entry to receive coordinated services across a wide spectrum of needs, this unique program enables members to stay at home while reducing the burden of care on families. A satisfaction survey was conducted to monitor CCM’s effectiveness and identify areas for improvement.

Methods: The survey sampled all CCM members with at least 6 months’ program experience (N=667). Surveys were available for completion in print or online. Reminder phone calls encouraged participation.

Results: With a 45% completion rate, CCM members were 47% male, 54% 10 years old or younger, 74% white (non-Hispanic), and 47% enrolled in the program for over 6 years. High levels of satisfaction with the program were reported (69% very satisfied, 24% satisfied). 72% reported CCM made the member’s life “much better” while 60% reported it would have been “very difficult” for the member to stay at home if not supported by CCM. Staff’s coordination of services also won high ratings. Areas identified for improvement included specific aspects of the highly comprehensive and detailed needs assessment process and increased communication with members regarding need for additional services such as physical, speech and occupational therapy.

Conclusions: This evaluation helped quantify the invaluable service this innovative program delivers while identifying ways to further increase its positive impact as CCM continues to grow its member base.