Health and Human Services funds $6 million disabilities center

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Disability announced the award of more than $6 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to establish a Center of Excellence in Research on Disability Services, Care Coordination and Integration.

The contract has been awarded to Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. for two years. It is aimed at building the infrastructure necessary to support and conduct research on the effectiveness and comparative effectiveness of systems of care for people with disabilities.

“With the establishment of a Center of Excellence in Research on Disability Services, Care Coordination and Integration, we will make necessary data improvements to better understand health and support services for people with disabilities,” said HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “The data collected will allow the Office on Disability and the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services to examine the effectiveness of different services and supports being provided, and in turn, improve care for people with disabilities.”

The center will identify data sources, evaluate the usability of data, conduct research, and disseminate scientifically and clinically relevant information to help patients, providers, policy makers, consumers, caregivers, and family members make decisions on health care.

One of the key components of this program is the collaboration with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Chronic Conditions Warehouse (CCW).

“By linking existing Medicaid data sources and other datasets relevant to disability to the CCW, the center will increase the analytic utility of CCW information for research on people with disabilities and/or chronic conditions,” said Dr. Rosaly Correa-de-Araujo, deputy director of the Office on Disability. She is the technical and scientific director of the initiative.

In addition, Medicaid data, state plan and waiver services supplied by specific states, will be assessed and used to identify and propose ways to achieve greater consistency on how services are used and provided.

“This is a unique initiative that creates a broad array of future opportunities in comparative effectiveness research in the field of disability services, including those related to rehabilitation, behavioral and psychosocial interventions. We look forward to advancing science and enhancing services and supports that benefit people with disabilities,” said Correa-de-Araujo.