SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1

October 4, 1994

INFORMATION MEMORANDUM

AOA-IM-94-09

TO:STATE AGENCIES ADMINISTERING PLANS UNDER TITLES III AND VII OF THE OLDER AMERICANS ACT OF 1965, AS AMENDED

SUBJECT:Schedule for Implementation of the National Ombudsman Reporting System

LEGAL AND RELATED

REFERENCES:Older Americans Act, as amended

The purpose of this Information Memorandum is to inform State Agencies on Aging and State Long-Term Care Ombudsmen of the Administration on Aging's (AoA) revised schedule for implementing the new National Ombudsman Reporting System (NORS).

In a letter to the State Directors on Aging dated June 22, 1994 we informed States that, subject to approval by the Office of Management and Budget(OMB), they would be required to implement the new reporting system for the FY 1995 reporting period, beginning October 1, 1994.  We said in the letter that States which could not implement the system on October 1 would have the option of implementing for the last six months of FY 1995.

Due to the fact that several States requested that mandatory implementation of the NORS be delayed until software has been developed which States may use in collecting the data needed to complete the NORS, we have revised our request to OMB as follows:

1.Approval of the NORS for States to use voluntarily in FY 1995 and for required reporting in FY 1996, beginning on October 1, 1995.

2.Extension of the current ombudsman reporting format (Section V of the current State Performance Report, with modifications in the funding section to correspond to the 1992 amendments to the Older Americans Act) to cover FY 1995.

Subject to OMB approval, we invite States which have converted their ombudsman reporting systems to correspond to the NORS, or which plan to do so beginning October 1994, to submit their annual ombudsman report required in Section 712(h)(1) of the Older Americans Act to AoA on the new NORS form at the close of FY 1995.  AoA will compile the information submitted by these States and will also compile information submitted by the rest of the States on the currently approved (old) form.  States which report on the NORS form will not be required to fill out two forms.  AoA will condense the information from the NORS form to the current form in order to include these States' data in the national report for FY 1995.

We are asking the AoA Regional Offices to contact all State Units on Aging to determine which States have converted or are converting to the NORS for FY 1995 and which of these will submit this data to us on a voluntary basis at the close of FY 1995.  Having the completed form - in either hard copy or on diskette — from these States will aid us in developing our procedures for managing the data and narrative information reported on the NORS and preparing a national report.  We intend to compile a report based on this information and disseminate it to the States and all other interested parties.

During FY 1995 we will be piloting NORS in a sample of States.  This pilot will enable us to evaluate further the overall feasibility of the NORS and its components for FY 1996 implementation.  At this time, however, we fully intend to more forward with the proposed FY 1996 implementation schedule.

A copy of the NORS instructions and form which were resubmitted to OMB following the most recent round of comments from the States is attached.  The only changes made in the **form** since the draft marked 2/18/94, which was sent to the States as an attachment to the June 22, 1994 letter, are as follows:

!Total lines have been added at the bottom of the "Complaint Disposition" categories on page 8; since no complaint is to be reported to AoA until action on it has been completed and the case has been closed, the disposition totals should be the same as totals for complaints received (item I.C, page 1) and types of complaints (item I.D. on page 7).

!Specific numbers have been assigned to each complaint category to avoid confusion and aid in aggregating the form by computer.  The description and order of the categories have not been changed. 

!Under Program Funding on page 12 of the form, an additional line has been added to distinguish Title VII Chapter 2 funding from Title VII, Chapter 3 funding; this is consistent with the current ombudsman reporting format on program funding.

Minor changes have been made in the draft **instructions** dated

June 10, 1994.  These include changes to reflect the revised complaint category numbering system and provide additional clarity where commenters indicated it was needed.  For example, the complaint category PASARR is now defined.

I hope this information will assist State managers and ombudsmen in their reporting plans for the coming fiscal year.

INQUIRIES:Inquiries should be addressed to Regional Administrators, Administration on Aging, HHS Regional Office.

Fernando Torres-Gil

Assistant Secretary for Aging

Attachment

COPIES:State Ombudsmen 

     �    If they wish to have additional categories, States may add these in their own systems at the end of the list of 133 categories and simply add them back into the appropriate category (including the "other" available for group of types of complaints) before submitting their annual report to AoA.  Also, States are free to have other numbering systems for "types of complaints", as long as they convert the data into the correct NORS category at the end of the year for submission to AoA.