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 Home > Contracting with ACS |
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Administration for Children’s Services Division of Quality Assurance Agency Program Assistance(APA)Roles and Responsibilities
APA’s mission is to help improve the quality of services provided and the outcomes achieved by Children’s Services provider agencies for New York City’s children and families. Located within the Division of Quality Assurance, the Agency Program Assistance (APA) unit is
comprised of performance monitors assigned in teams to Children’s Services preventive and foster care providers. These teams will be responsible for the following major monitoring functions, each of which is described in fuller detail later in this document.
- Gaining a depth of knowledge regarding each provider agency’s mission, organizational and staffing structure, service array, sites, client characteristics, and current improvement strategies or areas of focus.
- Analyzing information collected and organized by the Division of Policy and Planning (Scorecard and related updates) regarding each program’s performance information, relative to ACS standards where applicable, system-wide performance and the program’s own performance over time, to identify areas of strength and areas in need of improvement.
- Integrating information from key system participants, including ACS offices and other stakeholders, regarding agency performance with Scorecard information to identify potential emerging changes in practice, deepen the understanding of an agency’s performance and to inform improvement efforts.
- Setting agency-specific expectations for improvement based on each agency’s areas of strength and the areas in need of improvement.
- Participating in the development of agency-specific strategies and plans for improvement.
- Providing information to other ACS divisions and system participants of issues impacting provider agency performance.
- Monitoring progress by assessing the agency’s improvement relative to expectations set by APA.
- Utilizing accountability mechanisms and making recommendations regarding contract status as necessary.
Gaining Understanding of Provider Agency Systems and Structures
APA and provider agencies are engaged in an ongoing, consistent dialogue regarding performance improvement. It is critical that this dialogue – and any improvement strategies developed as a result - occur within the context of each provider agency’s mission, organizational and staffing structure, service array, client characteristics, and current improvement strategies, plans or areas of focus. As such, APA performance teams conducted learning visits to each agency to learn more about these aspects of their organization.
Analyzing Agency Scorecard Performance
APA analyzes practice and outcome data collected for the annual scorecard to identify areas of strength and areas in need of improvement with each provider agency. To assess improvement or to fill gaps of information regarding key aspects of an agency’s performance, APA conducts case record, site and data reviews to ensure that it has a holistic picture of agency performance across all programs. The initiation of these reviews is contemplated in consideration of the PAMS reviews to avoid duplication and usually is designed with direct input from the provider so that the review generates information that inform its quality improvement efforts.
Integrating Performance Information from System Participants and Other Stakeholders
Feedback from key system participants, including ACS offices and other stakeholders is collected and utilized by APA to identify emerging practice trends, enrich ACS and the provider agency’s understanding of the agency’s performance in various arenas and inform improvement efforts. This anecdotal information will be balanced against objective performance information and through dialogue with providers be utilized primarily for learning and quality improvement. It will not be scored, but APA will articulate as appropriate action to be taken to address issues that are determined to be emerging from this information.
Setting Expectations for Improvement
Utilizing Agency Scorecard information, APA review information and anecdotal performance information, APA will set expectations for improvement, or benchmarks, throughout the year for each provider agency. Benchmarks will be set in the context of an agency’s current performance, Children’s Services standards and system-wide performance. Children’s Services communicates these expectations along with a clear timeframe for improvement in writing and in performance meetings held with each provider. APA also describes how it intends to assess the agency’s progress in meeting these expectations – case record review, performance data review, site assessment, etc.
Developing Improvement Strategies and Plans
As mentioned above, APA will be in a consistent dialogue with each provider agency regarding performance improvement. Performance meetings will be held whenever ACS sets new expectations for improvement and later to review an agency’s success in meeting those expectations. As part of those meetings and during other regular conversations, Children’s Services will participate in the development of improvement strategies and plans. In order to assist in the development of these strategies, APA will strive to bring the following to these meetings.
- Knowledge of the agency, its service array, client characteristics, strengths and the challenges it’s facing.
- Clarity regarding what technical assistance is available from within and outside of ACS.
- Knowledge of the agency’s performance data
- Knowledge of promising quality improvement techniques.
- Information regarding what has been demonstrated to be promising practice at other agencies.
- Commitment to help the agency explore creative and innovative strategies.
- Primary commitment to the safety, permanency and well-being of the children and families we collectively serve.
Advancing Issues Impacting Agency Performance
APA is committed to learning about those issues that impact on each provider agency’s performance. To this end, a portion of each performance meeting is dedicated to hearing from the provider agency about those things that ACS may be able to do - including direct action and advocacy with other system participants and stakeholders - to help ameliorate these issues. While not all of these requests are agreed with or are able to be fulfilled, APA is committed to a prompt time frame for responding with an answer regarding what actions ACS will be able to take. Further, APA believes it is its responsibility to provide ACS divisions - and critical partners throughout the child welfare system when appropriate - with our perspective of the challenges experienced by provider agencies in order to inform ACS improvement efforts.
APA will also take action to solicit feedback from the agencies about the quality of its performance. In addition to encouraging verbal feedback in meetings, surveys are administered to learn about what aspects of the monitoring system are working and what is not. APA is committed to using its mistakes as an opportunity to improve its work and enhance the impact it has on the performance of NYC’s child welfare system.
Monitoring Performance Improvements
As mentioned above, APA conducts assessments tailored to each agency to assess progress in meeting ACS’s expectations for improvement. APA shares its method of assessment at the time it sets expectations and timeframe for improvement. Methods include:
- Case Record Reviews
- Site Assessments, and accompanying interviews with staff, foster parents, youth
- Administrative Assessments of Staffing, Training and Other Organizational Areas
- Review of Outcomes Data
In addition to assessing progress in critical areas, APA conducts ongoing monitoring to identify emerging trends by:
- Conducting a site review of all agency sites on at least an annual basis
- Reviewing performance data on regular basis (monthly or quarterly depending on indicator)
- Reviewing regularly information provided by other ACS offices and system participants
Utilizing Accountability Mechanisms
While accountability mechanisms are not intended to be the primary drivers of agency improvements, APA will utilize these tools whenever performance is considerably or persistently poor. These tools include but are not limited to corrective action status, probationary corrective action status, intake closure, denial of enhancement dollars and contract termination. Whenever APA intends to take such action, it will provide clear direction verbally and in writing on what is expected to resolve the issue and the consequences associated with the action if improvement is not achieved.
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