This bill provides for licensing and certification of vision rehabilitation therapists and assistants. It is currently under review by the Higher Education Committee. This amendment was slipped into the budget last year with little notice and no discussion. Researchers and evaluators are placed in a difficult ethical position. For more information, contact Mark.
All sites are in the data collection phase.
A final report including results and best practices will be available in January 2000. This project was started because most aging programs only quantitatively track the units of service provided and the number of elderly served rather than qualitatively analyze program effectiveness. Experience gained through the OCS project will enable the aging network to develop and use outcome and consumer satisfaction measures to demonstrate the value of programs and improve service quality. The State Society on Aging assisted SOFA in the initial planning of this project by serving on its Technical Assistance Workgroup. An interim OCS report is currently available.