Contact Person:

Beverly Laubert

Phone Number:

(614) 466-7922 (614)644-5201

State:

Ohio

Project Description

The State Ombudsman staff monitors twelve regional programs to ensure compliance with laws, rules, policies and procedures. Additionally, the regional programs are monitored to ensure quality service to consumers, accurate reporting, accurate reporting of advocacy, general information, and counseling activities. The monitoring visit covers all core services and is an invaluable opportunity to identify areas for improvement, training, and technical assistance.

In 2000, the State Office developed goals to improve the Technical Assistance Visit (TAV) process. As a result, numerous changes have been made to increase the efficiency of the process, to improve communication with the regional programs, and to improve off-site preparation for the on­site Technical Assistance Visit (TAV).

Before each TAV cycle, the State Office meets with the regional program staff to discuss specific goals for that cycle. This year, for example, one of the goals focused on collecting data regarding volunteer program development and management in order to develop a best practices document as a resource and direction for all programs. Another goal focused on how regional programs utilize quality assurance programs as a management tool to improve service within the program.

• A number of improvements have been implemented as a result of the TAV process improvement effort. Some of these changes are described below:

• The regional programs are asked to complete a post-TAV survey to help the State Office continuously identify areas for improvement.

• Most of the documentation exchanged during the process is now done electronically and saves time for both the State Office and the regional programs.

• The TAV report highlights issues and timelines for both the State office and the regional programs. The report is tool that assists in follow-up to ensure problems are resolved in a timely manner.

Impact:

The resulting impact that the State Office has done better monitoring of the regional programs. Improved monitoring means problems are identified and corrected in a timely manner, technical assistance is provided when needed, the regional programs participate in the process, and the process is more efficient. Additionally, the process is directed toward program outputs in outcomes in accordance with draft outcomes currently being developed. Lastly, in the last cycle of Technical Assistance Visits, 50% of the regional programs did not require a Technical Assistance Plan following the TAV. In the previous cycle, all twelve regional programs received a Technical Assistance Plan. We are very pleased with our monitoring process and plan to continue improvement efforts.