ANSA Service Planning & Coordination 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An individual in service planning expresses a goal of living independently within six months. The care coordinator should:
- Redirect the goal as unrealistic given current ANSA need ratings
- Incorporate the goal into the service plan and identify supports needed to achieve it (Correct answer)
- Document it as a long-term aspiration but not include it in the current plan
- Consult the supervisor before recording any client-stated goal
Correct answer: Incorporate the goal into the service plan and identify supports needed to achieve it
Person-centered ANSA planning requires incorporating the individual's own stated goals and building a support structure around achieving them.
Question 2: Cultural competence in ANSA-informed service planning MOST directly requires the care coordinator to:
- Provide all services in English to ensure consistency
- Consider the individual's cultural background when identifying appropriate resources and communication styles (Correct answer)
- Refer culturally diverse clients to specialized providers only
- Translate the ANSA into the individual's language but otherwise standardize the plan
Correct answer: Consider the individual's cultural background when identifying appropriate resources and communication styles
Culturally competent ANSA planning means tailoring both the assessment process and service recommendations to align with the individual's cultural values and preferences.
Question 3: Which ANSA-identified strength, when rated 2 (strength is a centerpiece), should be prominently built into the service plan?
- A strength the individual is unaware they possess
- A strength the individual actively uses and which significantly supports their functioning (Correct answer)
- A strength that only emerged in the past week
- A strength identified solely by the treatment team, not the individual
Correct answer: A strength the individual actively uses and which significantly supports their functioning
A strength rated 2 on the ANSA indicates a well-developed, actively utilized asset that should anchor service planning interventions.
Question 4: A care coordinator is transferring a client to a new provider. To ensure continuity of care, the MOST important action is:
- Allowing the new provider to complete a fresh ANSA without reviewing prior assessments
- Sharing the current ANSA, service plan, and a warm handoff meeting with the individual and new provider (Correct answer)
- Closing the case and having the individual self-refer to the new provider
- Sending only the diagnostic summary to protect confidentiality
Correct answer: Sharing the current ANSA, service plan, and a warm handoff meeting with the individual and new provider
Care transitions in ANSA systems require warm handoffs that transfer the full ANSA and service plan to prevent loss of progress and service gaps.
Question 5: When the ANSA identifies a need in the 'legal' domain, the service plan should:
- Exclude legal issues as they are outside the scope of behavioral health services
- Coordinate with legal aid, probation, or other justice-involved supports as part of the plan (Correct answer)
- Refer the individual to a lawyer and remove the item from the behavioral health plan
- Document it as background information with no linked interventions
Correct answer: Coordinate with legal aid, probation, or other justice-involved supports as part of the plan
Legal involvement is a ANSA-assessed domain that should be addressed through coordinated supports within the broader service plan.
Question 6: Which approach to setting timelines in an ANSA-based service plan is MOST appropriate?
- Use uniform 90-day timelines for all goals to simplify tracking
- Assign timelines based on the urgency of each ANSA-rated need and the individual's pace of change (Correct answer)
- Set all timelines to match insurance authorization periods
- Allow goals to remain open-ended to avoid pressure on the individual
Correct answer: Assign timelines based on the urgency of each ANSA-rated need and the individual's pace of change
Timelines in ANSA planning should be individualized and need-responsive, with urgent needs (rated 3) having shorter timelines than developmental goals.
Question 7: A care coordinator notices that despite multiple service plan revisions, an individual's ANSA scores in the 'depression' domain remain at level 3. The BEST response is to:
- Accept that some needs are treatment-resistant and stop revising the plan
- Conduct a plan fidelity review to identify whether current interventions are being delivered and are evidence-based (Correct answer)
- Increase the number of services without reviewing current effectiveness
- Refer the individual to a higher level of care without additional analysis
Correct answer: Conduct a plan fidelity review to identify whether current interventions are being delivered and are evidence-based
Persistent high ANSA scores signal the need for a systematic fidelity review to determine whether services are being delivered as planned and are appropriately matched to the need.
ANSA Service Planning & Coordination 5
An individual in service planning expresses a goal of living independently within six months.
The care coordinator should: