While every state has recognized the benefits of smaller supported living settings in the community, most communities are ill-equipped to deal with the myriad of complex needs of these patients, resulting in poor quality of life and undue strain on local resources. In close collaboration with patient groups, clinicians and insurance providers, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), will use network technology to reintegrate patients with mild to moderate mental retardation and development disabilities (MRDD) back into their local communities.
The MDRR Community Support Network will serve residents in the 21 counties of west Tennessee, a region bordered by the Mississippi River on the west and the Tennessee River to the east. The MRDD Community Support Network has two components. The first establishes a support network consisting of video conference connections to 25 residential centers and 65 home-based patients, connected to a Help Desk maintained by clinical personnel. The system will provide access to clinical services as well as quality assurance monitoring for residential centers. The second element is community based education and training seminars conducted by staff from the advocacy groups in coordination with clinicians of UTHS, including psychiatrists, psychologists, development specialists, social workers, nutritionists, and MRDD educators.
The project will improve access and efficient utilization of services, resulting in better health status and quality of life for patients and their caregivers and a significant reduction in re-institutionalization rates. To ensure the model becomes a standard part of health care for the state, key stakeholders representing reimbursement, clinical protocol maintenance, and project development will participate in all significant planning, implementation, dissemination, and sustainment phases of the effort.
Network members include the University of Tennessee’s Departments of Telemedicine and Psychiatry, and the UT Centers of Development Disabilities and Health Science Research, the state agency Bureau of TennCare, and two patient advocacy groups (the Association of Retarded Citizens of Tennessee and the Tennessee Disability Coalition).
