Name: Tariq Abdulaziz

Affiliation: Neurostrategies, Inc.

Location: UConn Health

Request Date Start: 01/01/2012

Request Date End: 10/05/2018

Details: Any and all documents related to development of a Universal Assessment as described below

The DSS has asked Dr. Robison and the UConn Health Center on Aging to assist in developing a standardized assessment tool (Universal Assessment) for use in all of the state of CT’s waiver programs, a requirement of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Balancing Incentive Program. (The Balancing Incentive Program (BIP) provided financial incentives to States to increase access to non-institutional long term services and supports (LTSS) in keeping with the integration mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as required by the Olmstead decision and was created by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Section 10202)).

The work began in 2012 to develop the standardized tool. The Universal Assessment (UA) was derived from the interRAI Home Care Assessment System, which is a tested and validated tool used by many US states and other countries. CT’s UA is a modified version of the interRAI, in that additional validated scales were added (e.g., for substance use, cognitive function). In 2015, the tool was piloted in the waiver programs, more changes were made to ensure the tool worked universally across these different populations and the tool was finalized. The UA has been adopted across all waiver programs and replaces all other assessments used previously. All participants in the various waiver programs are required to complete the UA, as it is the singular tool being used by DSS to conduct both initial assessments (to develop service and care plans for the individual) and annual re-assessments (to determine eligibility status and service needs for the next benefit year).

Documents: any and all documents related to this matter including but not limited to the following;

all email communications between Uconn Center on Aging and DSS
all emails internal and external withing UConn regarding this matter
Copies of all versions of the assessment tool
Copies of all versions of the instruction manual

• A copy of instructions used to administer the assessment
All technical data regarding development, administration, interpretation and outcome data and
instructions for the assessment including but not limited to the following;
o Intended use of the assessment
o User qualifications
o Normative sample data
o Standard Scores
o Scoring Instructions
o Administration Instructions
o Test Interpretation
o Validity Measures
o Reliability Measures
o Correlations
o Scales for interpretation of all

Notes: