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- About the Center ▾   - Contact
- Resources by Topic ▾   - Recruitment & Retention
  - Professional Training & Education
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  - Self-Direction
  - Family Caregiving
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# Self-Direction

**More Resource Topics**
                      - Recruitment & Retention
                      - Professional Training & Education 
                      - Data and Research
                      - Financing 
                      - State Strategies and Initiatives
                      - Family Caregiving

Self-direction is a long-term care services and supports (LTSS) delivery model that prioritizes personal choice and control. In a self-directed model, a person decides how, when, and from whom they will receive LTSS.

**Federal Resources**
                  - Self-Direction Briefing Paper Series — Compendium for policymakers and stakeholders to inform conversation and policy on home- and community-based services self-direction (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
                  - Recruiting, Selecting, and Retaining Direct Service Workers To Provide Self-Directed Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) — Online training provides information to people who self-direct or wish to self-direct their HCBS and others interested in finding, hiring, and retaining workers (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
                  - Self-Direction Options — Explains state options under Medicaid state plan and waivers for providing enrollees with services, and with the option to self-direct (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
                  - The Case for Medicaid Self-Direction: A White Paper on Research, Practice, and Policy Opportunities — Discusses the history of self-directed services in the U.S. and ramifications of the growing use of Medicaid-managed care arrangements for the future of these services and supports (National Council on Disability, 2013)

**Other Resources**
                  - What is Self-Direction? — Describes self-direction in long-term care service delivery, emphasizing participant choice, control, and flexibility, and includes real-life stories and videos (Applied Self-Direction, 2021)
                  - Taking It to the Next Level: Using Innovative Strategies to Expand Options for Self-Direction — Describes how four states used innovative strategies to develop and expand options for self-direction and includes a toolkit for training, collaboration, and replication (AARP Public Policy Institute, 2018)
                  - “It’s Changed Everything:” Voices of Veterans in the Veteran-Directed Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Program — Study explores the value and impact of a Veterans Affairs self-directed HCBS program on Veterans’ lives in their voices (Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 2018)
                  - 2020 Evaluation of Experiences With Self Direction in New York State: A Focus on Sustainability — Summarizes results of survey of people participating in New York State’s self-direction plan (Institute on Community Integration, 2021)
                  - How Can Matching Service Registries Increase Their Impact? — Article highlights an online matching service registry in Minnesota (PHI, 2019) 

*Last modified on 12/07/2023*

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The Administration for Community Living funds the DCW Strategies Center to provide technical assistance and facilitate collaboration across service systems to improve recruitment, retention, and training of the professionals whose services make it possible for people with disabilities and older adults to live in their own homes and communities.

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An official website of the Administration for Community Living, an operating division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.