There are seven offices within the Division of Mental Retardation:
Office of Community Programs; Office of Certification; Office of
Quality Enhancement; Office of State Operated Developmental Centers
(SODC’s); Office of Psychological and Behavioral Services; Office of
Administrative and Fiscal Operations, and the Office of Consumer
Empowerment.
- The Office of Community Programs is responsible for the
programmatic and fiscal management/accountability of services and
supports provided through a wide array of home- and community-based
arrangements to individuals with cognitive disabilities. Services
also include information and referral, and the coordination of child
and adolescent services and of early intervention programs. The
Director supervises five (5) regional Community Services Offices to
develop and coordinate services/supports in the regional catchment
areas. The primary focus of this office is to develop and manage the
Medicaid waiver programs for the State that provides financial
support for services to persons with cognitive disabilities. Alabama
currently has two waivers for individuals with mental retardation –
the Medicaid Home and Community-Based MR Waiver and the Alabama
Living at Home Waiver.
- The Office of Certification is
responsible for certifying community
mental retardation services throughout the State of Alabama. The
certification process requires monitoring and interpreting
established standards for mental retardation services, developing
proposed revisions to standards, scheduling and conducting on-site
visits and follow-up visits, preparing and reviewing survey reports
and processing reports from Division of Mental Retardation Services
to the contract agency, monitoring trends of standards found out of
compliance for standard revision and/or provider training, writing
other reports, and providing technical assistance to community
agencies as needed.
- The Office of Quality Enhancement’s overall function is to ensure
optimally safe, efficient and effective care and services for each
individual within the limits set by available resources. This
function is implemented through application of systemic and
objective monitoring and evaluation processes as specified in the
Quality Enhancement Plan which is designed to foster the improvement
of care and services. The practical function of the Quality
Enhancement Plan is to provide administrators, clinicians, direct
care and support staff with accurate, timely information that
generates responsible decision-making which continuously seeks to
improve organizational functions, performance, and the quality of
life of individuals served in all service delivery systems.
- The Office of State-Operated Developmental Centers is responsible
for
providing assistance to the Center to maintain Medicaid Title XIX
certification, to maintain a residential and programmatic
environment of care that provides for the safety and protection of
individuals, to manage the Centers’ personnel needs and changes, to
review the development and maintenance of the Center’s budget, to
provide leadership and participate in the overall planning
activities for the Center, and to meet with consumers, families,
community service providers and other DMH/MR service areas as needed
for the overall planning and provision of services.
- The Office of Psychological and Behavioral Services is responsible
for
the state-wide development, training, implementation and monitoring
of behavioral and psychological services in the state-operated
developmental center and in community agencies serving individuals
with cognitive disabilities. This process involves, but is not
limited to, the development of the Alabama behavior support service
delivery system, establishing and leading a Behavior Analysis Task
Force, and providing leadership for the provision of comprehensive
behavioral and health supports and services to individuals served
through the DMH/MR.
- Three Comprehensive Support Services Teams provide supports to
individuals (children and adults), families, and provider agencies.
These regionally-based teams provide assessment and assist with
providing an array of supports to individuals who require
specialized services such as preventive and crisis behavioral,
psychiatric, medical, and dental services. The teams also provide
technical assistance to service providers to develop internal
capacity related to these and other specialty areas.
- The Office of Administrative and Fiscal Operations is responsible
for providing fiscal/technical assistance to the Associate
Commissioner for Mental Retardation Services, to DMR office staff,
to the State-operated developmental Center, and to regional
community services operations. This includes assistance for
budgeting, revenue, contracts, purchasing, etc.
- The Office of Consumer Empowerment is responsible for providing
leadership for individuals with cognitive disabilities to be active
self-advocates and to participate in governmental and civic
activities that promote the rights, the needs, and the desires of
individuals in the State of Alabama to become self-reliant,
contributing members of the community in which they live.
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