National MLTSS Health Plan Association Launches Workgroup on Self-Direction

WASHINGTON - Oct. 1, 2025 - PRLog -- The National MLTSS Health Plan Association ("MLTSS Association") is pleased to announce the launch of its new Self-Direction Workgroup, an initiative designed to advance Self-Direction in managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS). This effort reflects the Association's commitment to empowering individuals who receive LTSS to have greater control and flexibility over their care, fostering independence and improving their quality of life.

Self-Direction allows individuals to directly manage elements of their care, including hiring and supervising their caregivers and tailoring services to meet their unique needs. By prioritizing independence, flexibility, and autonomy, Self-Direction not only improves quality of life for participants but also offers a promising strategy to address the nation's direct care workforce shortage.

This workgroup on Self-Direction, as well as the MLTSS Association's prior workgroup on Enabling Technology, are both focused on workforce alternatives that can help to address the direct care workforce crisis. This work builds off of the Association's previous workgroup on the Direct Care Workforce and accompanying white paper, Strengthening the Direct Care Workforce: A Framework for Leveraging MLTSS MCOs Address the Workforce Crisis (https://485ae58d-829a-4757-8301-78b736d80b9d.usrfiles.com...). This workgroup identified workforce alternatives, including Self-Direction, as a key domain for addressing workforce shortages.

The Self-Direction Workgroup will be led by co-chairs David Rogers, from Florida Community Care, an Independent Living Systems Company, T.K. Small, from VNS Health, and Beth Peterson, from Consumer Direct Care Network.

Emphasizing the importance of giving people more control over their care, David Rogers noted "At its core, Self-Direction is about empowering individuals to make choices about their own lives. This workgroup will help ensure that people receiving long-term services and supports have the opportunity to direct their care in ways that reflect their goals, values, and preferences."

This workgroup is comprised of representatives from MLTSS Association member plans and the MLTSS Association Partnership Program, and will focus on identifying barriers, promoting best practices, and advancing scalable, sustainable self-direction models. Planned deliverables include a white paper outlining policy and programmatic recommendations and opportunities for states, managed care organizations (MCOs), and federal agencies to strengthen and support self-direction programs within MLTSS programs.

For more information about the National MLTSS Health Plan Association, please visit www.mltss.org.