Founded in 1983 as The Coordinating Center for Home and Community Care, Inc., (CCHCC) this non profit corporationwas first organized as a consortium and was initially funded by a federal Maternal Child Health Bureau (MCHB) Special Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS) grant. The purpose of this grant was to develop a care coordination model designed to effect the transition from hospital to home of children who were then hospitalized with complex medical diagnoses requiring ventilator support.

The Coordinating Center's prototype model for care coordination reflected the most valued characteristics of our current system, including

  • Family and person centered practice
  • Comprehensive, holistic perspective
  • Multidisciplinary team function
  • Community resource utilization
  • Fiscal and resource efficiency

After nearly 25 years of service to the community the organization’s values remain as trust, family and person centered philosophy, diversity, integrity, quality, creativity, advocacy, collaboration, and leadership. The core philosophy is characterized by a commitment to partnering with the person, family members, caregivers, providers and other support persons in the community in a dynamic collaborative process. Coordinating Center staff members recognize the unique ways in which people inform their environments and express their own values and vision. Our system, proven over time, yet responsive to change, results in an environment that is supportive of the person while remaining respectful of the need to conserve health care resources.

The Coordinating Center actualizes its mission through

Care Coordination facilitates coordination in the community and functions in both privately and publicly funded arenas. Care Coordination and Service Coordination is delivered through these programs:

  • The Maryland Medicaid Model Waiver, the premier program for children with complex medical needs and disabilities
  • The Maryland Rare and Expensive Case Management Program (REM), serving Medicaid eligible individuals of all ages who have the most challenging health care needs
  • A collaborative program with Amerigroup (a Medicaid certified managed care organization) to provide care coordination to members with extraordinary medical needs.
  • Living at Home Waiver program, which provides the mechanism to transition younger adults from nursing facilities to homes of their own in the community; the Housing Transition Office is part of this program at The Center.
  • The Autism Waiver program, which provides necessary community services to children with sever autism at risk for institutionalization
  • The Infants and Toddlers Program which provides for early intervention services for young children at risk for developmental delay.

The ACCESS Group for Consultative Services offers consultations, assessments, technical assistance and training on the spectrum of issues associated with people with complex medical needs and disabilities; ACCESS  is responsible for the dissemination of Coordinating Center publications and for implementing new grant funded projects.

Medical Legal Services provides life care planning, expert testimony, legal nurse consulting, vocational evaluations, and expertise with special needs trusts.

The Center’s core services are supported by

  • Information Systems, which  manages the integrated computerized systems that are the basis for contracts management, data tracking, reporting and communications.
  • Quality Improvement , which is accountable for customer satisfaction activities, ongoing evaluation of all programmatic activities at The Center, and for ensuring that effective quality indicators are the basis for ongoing measurement and quality reporting.  

All staff members bring creativity and commitment to a uniquely collaborative environment.  Co-workers are noted for unparalleled preparation, experience and credentialing in their respective disciplines.  Staff members are primarily nurses and social workers with  broad community expertise, as well as specialists in rehabilitation, early childhood, special education, rand resource development.

The Center’s care coordination functions are accredited by URAC, a nationally recognized accreditation organization.  The Standards for Excellence is a program of Maryland Association of Non Profit Organizations that certifies non profits according to measures of ethical practices and accountability.  The Center is certified under this program.  The Coordinating Center, in addition to its non profit status is also a minority business enterprise.  The organization holds memberships in the National Quality Forum and the World Association of Non Governmental Organizations. 

For more information, call Barbara McCord at 410-987-1048 ext. 103 or email bmccord@coordinatingcenter.org