When older adults and individuals with disabilities seek long-term services and supports (LTSS) or home and community-based services (HCBS), they must first go through an eligibility assessment to confirm they have a need for these services and supports. Many experience some uncertainty about the eligibility process. And most hope that the professional talking with them understands why they need support, what their experience without support is like, and which type of help they want to receive.
For LTSS and HCBS assessment professionals, this means gathering correct, relevant, and meaningful information about each person’s support needs and goals. For the best outcomes, our assessments must deliver both accurate information and a positive experience for the individual. Accuracy is key to help ensure individuals receive the right type and intensity of services in the right settings to align with their unique constellation of needs, goals, and preferences. Positive experiences during this entryway to services reinforce the person’s engagement, self-advocacy, sense of autonomy, and self-determination.
As highly trained assessment professionals, what can we do to make someone feel comfortable and respected throughout the assessment experience?
The Person-Centered Approach
A person-centered assessor takes the time to let each person know what they’ll experience during the assessment process, how the information gathered may inform their services and settings options, and the choices they (and their caregivers) may need to make. This approach provides reassurance that we’ve thoroughly and accurately accounted for a person’s unique needs. It also aligns with the LTSS/HCBS values of informed choice, individual empowerment, and self-determination while driving outcomes that more thoroughly reflect individual needs and priorities.
After supporting LTSS and HCBS programs as an assessment professional for more than three decades, it’s clear to me that many benefits, both to the individuals we assess and our state clients, spring from an intentional, rigorous, consistent application of a person-centered approach to assessment encounters.
By applying a person-centered approach, we can achieve three key goals:
- Improve assessment accuracy by eliciting more precise and thorough information from assessed individuals.
- Increase the individual’s engagement and confidence in assessment outcomes and in the decisions those outcomes impact.
- Reinforce a sense of agency, choice, and internal locus of control as individuals navigate often complex pathways to services and supports.
A person-centered assessment approach fosters a comfortable environment where individuals are heard and respected. It allows for the exchange of valuable information tailored to each person's unique needs and reinforces someone’s sense of agency regarding the assessment experience itself, thereby increasing their confidence in advocating for their goals and preferences during post-assessment service planning.