(a) Beginning as early as possible after July 1, 2021, but no later than September 1, 2021, the department shall convene a workgroup, which shall be composed of individuals described under subdivision (b), to make recommendations to the department for the development of standard performance improvement indicators and benchmarks to incentivize high-quality regional center operations.

(b) The director shall appoint members to the stakeholder group and shall consider all of the following individuals to serve as members of that group:

(1) Individuals or consultants with expertise in developing performance indicators and incentive programs within developmental disability systems or community-based long-term services and supports systems.

(2) Consumers and families across different geographic regions of the state, who have diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, diverse consumer age groups, and disabilities.

(3) Regional center representatives.

(4) Service providers.

(5) Representatives of other state agencies or entities with whom the department routinely collaborates for the coordination of services for people with developmental disabilities, and who additionally have expertise in setting or reporting indicators and benchmarks, including reporting to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

(6) Representatives of California’s University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, the protection and advocacy agency specified in Division 4.7 (commencing with Section 4900), and consumer and family advocacy groups.

(c) By January 10, 2022, as part of the Governor’s Budget, the department shall provide a status update based on recommendations provided by the stakeholder workgroup, with an additional status update at the time of the Governor’s May Revision. These recommendations may include all of the following:

(1) Priority areas for performance indicators and benchmarks, including, but not limited to, all of the following:

(A) Equity in service access and purchase of services.

(B) Consumer employment and associated metrics.

(C) Integration of consumers in the community.

(D) Person-centered planning.

(E) Compliance with federal home and community-based standards.

(F) Consumer and family experience and satisfaction.

(G) Innovation in service availability and delivery.

(2) Surveys or other measures to assess consumer and family experience, satisfaction, and recommendations, in addition the use of data available through the National Core Indicators.

(3) Benchmarks, and a method for establishing benchmarks, to create meaningful comparisons and understanding of variation in performance within and between regional centers.

(4) Measures under development or already implemented by federal funding agencies for long-term services and supports, home and community-based services, incentive payments, required reporting, and the efficient and effective implementation of performance improvement systems.

(5) Additional criteria for demonstrating performance improvement, including improvement beyond benchmarks.

(6) The methodology, structure, and types of incentives to be used, including, if appropriate, a payment schedule and implementation timeline, for incentive payments to regional centers to achieve or exceed performance benchmarks. This methodology and structure shall include how the department shall take into consideration variations among regional centers, expectations for regional center community engagement activities, and any significant demographic, including economic or other differences, impacting a regional center’s performance and how the department might build the identified benchmarks into regional center performance contracts.

(7) A process, based on the input from regional centers and other stakeholders, the department shall use on at least an annual basis to evaluate the success of a quality improvement process, including any incentive payment program.

(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 76, Sec. 27. (AB 136) Effective July 16, 2021.)