C&C States
Self-Direction Handbook
Data &
Background
The Original Cash & Counseling Demonstration was a three-state demonstration in Arkansas, New Jersey, and Florida beginning in 1998. Each state was required to adhere to the basic Cash & Counseling model, but was given the flexibility to implement Cash & Counseling in accordance with their own service delivery systems and political environments.
The preliminary evaluation of the demonstration provided positive results. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR) conducted a quantitative evaluation that analyzed differences in consumer satisfaction, quality of life, the amount and types of obtained personal assistance services, and cost between participants in the states' Cash & Counseling programs and those receiving traditional agency-directed care.
Results from Arkansas, the first state to implement the option, found that Cash & Counseling participants were more satisfied with the quality of their services, had increased access to paid care, had fewer unmet service needs, and experienced an improved quality of life.
In addition, ethnographic studies were conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County to obtain rich detailed personal accounts of the affects of the Cash & Counseling program on the lives of individual consumers, their families, workers, and counselors in Arkansas, New Jersey, and Florida. See the Evaluation Reports, in our Resources & Publications section.