INFORMATION ABOUT UPCOMING QUALITY RATING AND IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM (QRIS) FORUMS SAVE THE DATE FOR QRIS REGIONAL FORUMS: http://www.eec.state.ma.us/docs1/20100916_save_the_date_qris.pdf NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE FORUMS 1. Can I ask specific questions about the QRIS during the Regional Forum such as questions about when I will receive a validation visit? The Regional Forums are NOT general informational QRIS meetings but are designed to gather input to help us streamline the QRIS standards and provide clarification regarding documentation provided by QRIS participants. Specific questions about the QRIS itself should be sent to EEC. The Regional Forums are designed to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to learn more about the QRIS revision processes and to gather input on the process of streamlining the standards and documentation that is submitted to participate in the QRIS. For additional details about the forums, see attached QRIS Provisional Standards Study description. 2. During the forum, will we have a chance to go through each and every standard and give our opinion about why it should be included? While the Regional Forums are designed to gather input on the process of streamlining the QRIS, the forums will not provide an opportunity to review each and every standard. Providers will have opportunities to give opinions regarding particular standards through upcoming surveys and telephone interviews. 3. We are just now hearing about QRIS and hope that we will have a chance to learn about what it is and will have a chance to review each standard that applies to us. Will we get this opportunity during the regional forums? The Regional Forums are designed to gather input to help streamline the QRIS standards and provide clarification regarding documentation provided by QRIS participants. During the forums, the presenters will spend a few minutes giving an overview of the QRIS but will not focus in depth on how each standard relates to each provider type. For more information about what a QRIS is or to
view the existing standards, visit: http://www.mass.gov/eec/qris_standards. Specific questions should be sent to EEC at eecqris@massmail.state.ma.us. For additional details about the forums, see the QRIS Provisional Standards Study description at: http://www.eec.state.ma.us/docs1/qris/20101015_qris_descriptio n.pdf 4. Will I learn whether if the documentation I provided, to support my FY2010 QRIS Pilot application, is acceptable? No, providers will learn about whether their documentation is acceptable at a later stage. Forum participants will have an opportunity to complete a survey asking about the criteria to be used to assess the documentation. As part of the QRIS Provisional Standards Study, the documentation submitted by participants in the Pilot will be reviewed. During the Pilot phase of the QRIS, participants offered a variety of types of documents. This is being reviewed so that the criteria to use in the future will be informed by the types of documents submitted by Pilot participants. TIMING OF QRIS PILOT, PROVISIONAL STANDARDS STUDY, AND FORUMS 5. It seems like things are moving very quickly and I politely suggest that we slow things down and hold the Regional Forums over the next 6 months instead of having them all in October and November. We respect your perspective regarding the pace, but also recognize the importance of moving quickly given that the funds that are available to support this effort are time limited. In order to be able to fund this important work, we must revise the standards and begin full implementation by early 2011. A fully implemented QRIS is a federal policy priority and in order to be eligible for potential future federal initiatives, we need to complete the work within the designated timeframe. We are grateful to the entire provider community for working with us within our time constraints. The development of the QRIS system is an iterative process and though the QRIS standards will be updated and launched in January 2011, the future development process will be flexible enough to continue to engage stakeholders in order to continuously update the System as needed.
Once the FY2011 QRIS is launched, providers will have the opportunity to submit an application on a rolling basis; only providers that are interested in grant funding to support quality improvements in their program, aligned with the QRIS standards, will be asked to submit an application within a provided deadline (TBD). When will we have other opportunities to provide input? EDC will be collecting survey and interview data in October and November. If you would like to participate or have questions, please contact Stephanie Kimura at skimura@edc.org. Information will also be distributed on EEC s website and communications will be sent out to EEC s distribution list; to join EEC s mailing list, visit: http://www.eec.state.ma.us/usernews.aspx. SPECIFIC LOCATION /SCHEDULE OF THE FORUMS 6. Can you change the location of the Western forum? EEC responded to this question by changing the location. The new location is at Holyoke Community College People s Bank Room. This location is more central for those who are coming from the Western Region and should accommodate up to 100 people. 7. It looks like the forum in my region has reached capacity but I would like to attend. What can I do? EDC will be maintaining a wait list and will notify you if capacity opens up. One week prior to the forum, EDC will be sending out a final RSVP email and additional spaces might open up. If there is no space for participation in the forum, please participate in a conference call, and complete the survey and volunteer to complete a telephone interview. 8. Can you offer some of the forums during the day rather than in the evening? In order to maximize attendance, the forums are scheduled in the evenings as we recognize that many providers are working during the regular business day. In order to accommodate scheduling needs, one of the conference calls will be scheduled during the work day. Please provide input to EDC through completion of the webbased survey or by volunteering for a telephone interview if you are not able to participate in that call.
OPPORTUNITIES TO PROVIDE INPUT 9. Can we have more than 1 forum in each region across the state? Resource constraints limit the number of in person forums to 5 across the state. To ensure there are multiple opportunities to provide input for those who cannot attend the forums, we will have 2 conference calls, an online survey data, and opportunities for telephone interviews with those who are interested in providing feedback. Additional details about these planned activities will be sent shortly. 10. Will child care be provided during the forums? We would really like to be able to offer child care but resource constraints preclude this possibility. Instead, we encourage those who cannot attend due to child care to participate in one of the conference calls and to participate in the survey and interview data collection opportunities. 11. Can you come to our annual conference to review the process with our group? We really feel that we have specific concerns and it would be best to meet with us separately? Again, we would like to be able to meet with each group separately, but in order to streamline the process by the end of the year, we are not able to meet with each group separately. If you have a particular perspective and/or believe that your group is not adequately represented, please notify EDC tell them how and they will reach out through surveys and telephone interviews to obtain your group s perspective. TRANSLATION OF INFORMATION 12. We represent a large Spanish-speaking network and are concerned that the Forums will be in English. What provisions are you making to address this? EDC will have a Spanish translator at the Springfield forum but to date we have not received RSVPs from individuals in other regions
indicating a need. If you feel it is important to hold a separate conference call for Spanish speaking providers, please notify us and we can seek opportunities to schedule this call. 13. We are confused about some of the terms used in the QRIS. Will we have an opportunity to seek clarification? As part of the QRIS Provisional Standards Study, we are putting together a list of terms and definitions that we will distribute to providers.