Hi Joseph,
My understanding aligns with your - IUIAutomationElement, should be the base interface type for other control types.
I believe the syntax used by UIA documentation is IUIAutomationElement::CurrentIsKeyboardFocusable and such for direct property access. The identifiers currently listed in documentation are used for property value retrieval using IUIAutomationElement::GetCurrentPropertyValue and similar APIs (for current and cached properties) [1] using property identifiers [2].
The event model is similar [3]. Clients can subscribe using IUIAutomation::AddFocusChangedEventHandler [4] and the callback interface is IUIAutomationFocusChangedEventHandler [5].
Here is PR with the current proposed focus related changes: https://github.com/w3c/aria/pull/533
[1] IUIAutomationElement: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd319590(v=vs.85).aspx#PropertyIds
[2] Automation Element Property Identifiers: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd757479(v=vs.85).aspx
[3] UI Automation Events for Clients: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd319588(v=vs.85).aspx
[4] IUIAutomation::AddFocusChangedEventHandler Method: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd388739(v=vs.85).aspx
[5] IUIAutomationFocusChangedEventHandler Interface: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd375418(v=vs.85).aspx