FALL 2023

white woman whith short brown hair wearing a white cableknit sweater. She is smiling and is in front of a plain orange background.

Q & A with Lisa Helma, Manager of Vocational Rehabilitation at

Find out what makes Shirley Ryan AbilityLab's vocational rehabilitation services so unique

Hiring People with Disabilities: the Chicago Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, RUSH University Medical Center and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and RUSH University Medical Center leverage their relationship with the Chicago Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities to 'boost the signal' for job candidates with disabilities

Three pictures of a woman, a man and a woman

A young white woman with shoulder-length brown hair and glasses is smiling.

Elise Olsen: Early experiences and connections to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab make her job 'very full circle'

Olsen contributes to the development and testing of HCBS outcome measures and to a project highlighting organizations that excel at providing HCBS. She also works on projects funded by the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation focusing on mental health among people with spinal cord injury.

CROR Hits the Road!

View from the rear of a conference presentation of a large screen with a slide projected onto it and a woman standing at a podium in front of it.

Members of the CROR's RRTC on Home and Community-Based Services were at the 2023 HCBS Conference in Baltimore this past August.

CROR director Allen Heinemann, PhD, co-principal investigator Sara Karon, PhD and project manager Bridgette Schram, PhD, presented on the development of HCBS outcome measures to evaluate person-centered outcomes for people who receive HCBS.

A man in a wheelchair and a woman wearing a mask are sitting at a conference table with a navy tablecloth that says Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in red and orange textin

Research assistant John Abbate and project coordinator Niveda Tennety, from CROR's RRTC on Home and Community-Based Services, were at the 2023 National Adult Day Services Association Conference in Chicago in September.

They sought nominations for case studies of organizations that excel at providing person-centered HCBS. If you have an organization in mind, please email Bridgette Schram, PhD, at [email protected].

NIDILRR Director Anjali Forber-Pratt, PhD, visits Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Anjali Forber-Pratt, PhD, Director of the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) and Angel Miles, PhD, Project Officer at NIDILRR, visited with NIDILRR grantees at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and toured parts of the hospital on September 11.

A group of 8 people standing together - two people are sitting in wheelchairs.

Photo from Left to Right: Miriam Rafferty, PT, DPT, PhD, Director of Implementation Science; Bridgette Schram, PhD, Project Manager, CROR; Jaqueline Kish, PhD, post-doctoral fellow, CROR; Angel Miles, PhD, Project Manager, NIDILRR; Linda Ehrlich-Jones, PhD, RN, Associate Director, CROR; Anjali Forber-Pratt, PhD, Director, NIDILRR; Elliot Roth, MD, Attending Physician, Brain Innovation Center; Alex Wong, PhD, DPhil, OT, CRC, Research Scientist, CROR.

orange background with photos of two people - an Asian woman and a Latinx woman in the lower right and in white text it says Unmet Needs and the Importance of Data in HCBS

Unmet Needs and the Importance of Data

in HCBS

We talk with Teresa Nguyen, Director of the Community Living Equity Center in the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy and Natalie Chong, a doctoral student in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University about unmet needs in HCBS and why data is so important in identifying gaps in person-centered delivery of HCBS and knowing when goals are met.

LITERATURE CORNER

We found some recently-published articles and reports related to our research and wanted to share them with you!

The HCBS RRTC staff monitor the literature for relevant articles and reports. We found some recently published articles and reports related to our research and wanted to share them with you!

1. Miller EA, Beauregard LK. Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. Oct. 6, 2023.

2. Rizer A, Claypool H. Proposed Medicaid Managed Care Rules: Impact On Dual Eligible Individuals, Part 1. Health Affairs Forefront, June 21, 2023.

3. Rizer A, Claypool H. Proposed Medicaid Managed Care Rules: Impact On Dual Eligible Individuals, Part 2. Health Affairs Forefront, June 22, 2023.

4. Srinivasan, M., Jiménez, F., Shah, A., Kane, R., Karimi, M., and Dullabh, P. Assessing Outcomes Relevant for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Among Adults Aged 18–64 with Disabilities and Federal Data Infrastructure Opportunities. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. August, 2023.

Link to the report’s associated article inventory:

Article Inventory: Outcome Measures Relevant for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Among Adults Aged 18–64 with Disabilities.

The contents of this newsletter were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant 90RTGE0004). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL) in the Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS). The contents of this newsletter do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL or DHSS.

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