Data can be used to develop outcome-based measures to ensure the quality of home and community-based services (HCBS). Outcome-based measures are an essential but often missing puzzle piece in assuring HCBS quality, and promoting advanced payment models to include HCBS. The MDS-HC, or the Minimum Data Set Home Care, is a tool to help identify the needs of and services for older adults and people with disabilities who live in the community.
Many validated outcome-based measures developed by interRAI may be constructed from the data collected in Massachusetts through the Long Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Policy Lab, a resource in partnership with Massachusetts state agencies to aid executive-level decision-makers in program planning, policy evaluation and fiscal forecasting in the LTSS arena.