Facilitating District of Columbia’s No Wrong Door (NWD) Planning Grant

Challenge

On October 1, 2014, the District of Columbia (the District) received a one-year grant from the Federal Administration on Community Living (ACL), in partnership with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA), to develop a three-year plan to transform current Long-Term Services & Supports (LTSS) programs and processes in the District into a single, No Wrong Door (NWD) system for all populations and payers.

Solution

Atlas Research is helping to facilitate a coordinated, District-wide NWD system that will support all D.C. residents in need of LTSS, regardless of where they enter the system. Atlas was contracted to assist in the development of the District-wide NWD plan in collaboration with people in need of LTSS, their families, advocates, public and private sector partners, community-based service providers, and other partners. If the District is awarded a NWD Implementation Grant by ACL, the District’s NWD Plan will be implemented over a three-year period from October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2018.

Result

Atlas is working with CMMI and MITRE Solutions to provide a longer-term analysis of opportunities for new innovation models, with the objective of identifying, planning, and developing models for deployment for the beneficiary population. In support of the development, implementation, and evaluation of these innovation models, Atlas provides analytic expertise, subject matter content reviews, and construction of financial models to estimate future returns on CMS investment. Atlas’ analytic expertise is utilized through mixed-method analyses of stakeholder feedback on innovation models that will impact their health care market. This work requires detailed primary data collection in the form of consumer surveys and interviews. Additionally, data is collected through the review of published literature and synthesized for the use of CMMI decision makers in the model development process. 

This in-depth development process involves CMMI and CMS leadership, actuarial scientists, and representation from the Office of Management and Budget. Atlas provides critical information for these decision makers as they weigh the efficacy of the models versus the demand for higher quality services and efficiencies in costs. Additionally, Atlas has provided CMMI with economic models that forecast the return on investment for implementing new models of care within communities with a high burden of chronic disease including depression, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and chronic smoking. The economics models and subsequent forecasts are supplemented by summary documents that present the information in a mission-centric context for CMMI and CMS leadership to utilize in their portfolio management.