Last week the auditors from the Department of Developmental Services spent the week reviewing our records for regulatory compliance. This week they will be reviewing records remotely and the review process will be completed within a month.
Mary Sheehan, Valley Mountain Regional Center Clinical Director and I will be attending a workgroup meeting on Health and Dental Care for Dual Eligible consumers. We’ll cover (1) Care Coordination Assessment Project and Advisory Committee update, (2) Eligibility Discussion and What can regional centers do differently to expedite eligibility and enrollment? (3) Health Homes and serving individuals with complex needs that individuals with developmental disabilities can access?, (4) and various dental issues.
I’ll be attending the Management Development Workgroup focused on trainings for managers and policies and procedures.
Check in meeting with Jan Maloney in preparation of the upcoming board committee meetings in November.
Weekly meeting with the Senior Leadership (Directors and Assistant Directors) to review topics that need further discussion and/or decisions that impact all or part of the organization. This meeting will include updates from our Special Projects unit and the Foster Grandparents, etc. program.
I’ll be attending the Self-Determination Local Advisory committee meeting chaired by Claire Lazaro, Valley Mountain Regional Center Vice President, from 3:30 pm to 5 pm in the Cohen Board Room.
The Valley Mountain Regional Center Finance Committee, Chaired by Treasurer Elizabeth Victor-Martinez, will be meeting at 5:30 pm in the Cohen Board Room. The committee reviews contracts over $250,000, reviews and discusses the budget status, and recommends acceptance or not for the upcoming board meeting.
The Valley Mountain Regional Center Executive Committee, chaired by President Tom Bowe, will be meeting from 6:00 pm in the Cohen Board Room.
I will be attending the annual meeting of the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services which will focus on (1) innovative strategies for improving compliance oversight and quality of services while ensuring the health and safety of individuals (2) state quality initiative efforts, (3) how quality-driven goals can be translated into clear performance expectations, and (4) we’ll hear from federal leaders about HCBS quality direction and support. To learn more about this annual meeting check it out: NADDDS 2018 Directors Forum & Annual Conference
(Periodically I will highlight a particular outcome from one of the meetings or workgroups because every now and then it’s good to know that something actually happens in these efforts.)
On November 1st, 2019, Anthony Hill and I met with Sandip Sandhu, Stanislaus County Public Defender (soon to be Superior Court Judge) and Maureen Keller, Acting Public Defender. This was a meet and greet intended to create opportunity to improve our longstanding partnership. Breaking News, the Public Defender’s office has hired two social workers to create a holistic approach to defense strategy establishing connection with services, and joint recommendations with County Probation to leverage treatment as an alternative option before incarceration. Ms. Keller agreed to gather information from attorneys in her office regarding training topics on the regional center system of services and we’ll coordinate the delivery of the training then implement a similar process to inform our staff of relevant criminal justice issues. We anticipate January 2019 as the start date for this activity. We intend to receive training from the Stanislaus Public Defenders to get clear on the role of the attorney, defense strategies, privileges and criminal procedures, including how community agencies such as VMRC can best support our consumers during criminal proceedings.