Continuing Care performance report

Measure: Percent of consumers in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (DHHS) Division grant-funded programs who are satisfied with the timeliness of the services they received.

Why this measure is important?

The timeliness of service delivery is one of the desired results associated with two of the Continuing Care Administration’s primary goals in its 2011-2015 Strategic Plan.

What is included in the measure?

This measure includes survey results from people served in at least one of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services (DHHS) grant-funded programs that offer:

• Assistive technology for adults who are deafblind

• Behavioral and emotional assessments for children who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing

• Mental health programs for adults who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing

• Mentors for families with children who have hearing loss to learn communications approaches including American Sign Language (ASL)

• Support services for adults and children who are deafblind. 

The survey response rate was 50 percent. Four programs receive funding to provide mental health services. Three others provide support services and technology to people who are deafblind. On average, the combined programs served nearly 500 people per year with a total annual budget of $1.6 million in state grant dollars.

What does it mean?

The programs had a slight decline in satisfaction with the timeliness of their service delivery. Two main factors make it hard for providers to improve the timeliness of services. Staff turnover in these specialized services causes delays in providing services because it is difficult finding qualified staff.

Limited funding is another reason. Services may not be available as often and as quickly as consumers need due to budget constraints for many of these providers. DHHS regularly monitors each program’s satisfaction and outcome measures to watch for individual program variations.

How is it calculated?

Number of survey respondents who respond positively to questions about timeliness of your services divided by the total number of survey responses.

Percent of consumers satisfied with the timeliness of services by graph

Percent of consumers satisfied with the timeliness of services by table

Year	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Percent of consumers satisfied with the timeliness of services	87%	81%	84%	89%	89%	88%

Data source

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division grantees’ data generated from consumer satisfaction surveys.