HomeMy WebLinkAboutEI Provider Meeting Minutes 1-16-15Early Intervention Provider Meeting
Friday, January 16, 2015
1
Staff Present: Trish Elliott, Ashley McCartney, Erin Nye
Providers: Krista Miracle (Pediatric Therapy Specialists), Holly Whiteside & Matt Yingling (SAM,
Inc.), Adam Rowland (Advanta Therapy), Cynthia Bosserman & Jenn Hawbecker (UCP)
Providers Absent: Lincoln Intermediate Unit, Keystone Children Services
Conference Call: Megan Lesko (Building Blocks), Theresa Miller (Invo HealthCare)
MEETING MINUTES
Welcome & Introductions
Fiscal Updates
Ashley thanked providers for submitting their projection sheets.
Trish mentioned the new verification process is asking how EI is managing the
money and how it is going to be looked at going forward.
Contract amendments are being considered. Trish and Ashley will be in contact with
providers to start the process.
New Verification Process
Trish provided documents for Early Intervention Self-Verification Tool. EI has self-
verification then full verification.
Reminder to complete re-validation on PROMISe by March 24, 2016.
EITA Portal – http://www.eita-pa.org/
After clicking the link above, select Professional Development. There are 4-5
new classes with good information. All classes have certificates. Anything the
therapists take on the website counts as training. It is also encouraged that
the therapists write up a narrative of what they learned during the training.
Classes consist of Transition, Guidance to Session Notes, Low Incidents on
Deafness and Hearing Loss, Young Children and Families Experiencing
Homelessness, etc. and more to be added.
Jenn (UCP) discussed that UCP has completed the Tools to Ease Transition
and EI Transition at age 3. The trainings provide good tools to use. It is
recommended that those attending the trainings use Google Chrome or
Firefox as Internet Explorer will not load all documents correctly.
Mandated Reporting Training
https://www.reportabusepa.pitt.edu/webapps/portal/execute/tabs/tabActi
on?tab)tab)group_id=_49_1 is the link to the PA Department of Human
Services training on mandated reporting. Completing this training meets the
training requirements for those staff that are mandated reporters. In
addition to the training, it also has information about requirements related to
clearances and background checks. Taking the course requires a registration.
Early Intervention Provider Meeting
Friday, January 16, 2015
2
The training is free and a certificate is provided. The certificate must be
available for provider monitoring purposes.
Trish has also received information from the County on a webinar and
PowerPoint for mandated reporting. Trish will send this information out to
providers. Clearances are going to need to be redone; this only includes
ChildLine and police checks not fingerprinting. Clearances have to be
completed annually and the original has to be in the office.
Per discussion from other providers, Trish will seek verification
whether the clearances are annually or every three years and whether
it is acceptable to make a copy of the original clearance for those
contracted employees and make note that the original was seen.
Community of Practice Meeting/Training
The Community of Practice is held at the Ag Heritage Building once a month.
For those who attend it is considered training hours. The dates for the
upcoming meetings are January 23rd, February 27th, March 27th and May 22nd
from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. The meetings were started with the Positive
Behavior Grant and carried over to the Coaching Grant. One hour of the
meeting consists of networking, problem solving, events/things going on and
coaching; next hour is training. The entire two hours is counted as training.
The coaching model is considered best practice for EI.A training verification
form can be provided for those who attend the Community of Practice
meetings.
The main topic for the January 23rd meeting is session notes. Conversation
will evolve around what is a good session note, how to write up family
friendly session notes, areas that are not filled out, how to “beef” up the
session note, etc.
Holly is hoping to get to a point where the notes show what really
happens at the meetings. The verification process is going to be
extremely robust. Holly wants to tighten things up and make sure
families understand what happens during sessions.
Holly is suggesting that providers put in a system of checks and
balances insuring that therapist are accurately indicating the time of
their visit and that they are providing the services as indicated on the
IFSP. The verification may involve MA audits. We want to make sure
everyone has a check and balance and not just submitting the session
notes.
Holly has found that some of the progress monitoring summaries are
missing information in areas such as the number of sessions during
visit and how many missed visits. She is asking that providers please
make sure this information is being filled out and the notes are
complete.
Annual Review Form
The Annual Review/Annotated Review Form was developed by Megan Lesko
from Building Blocks. It is a work in progress but has been successful in other
Early Intervention Provider Meeting
Friday, January 16, 2015
3
counties; the therapists like to use the form when treating as it provides
more insight into the child, especially children who may end up in clinical
opinion. The form gives more background on the child and helps the
evaluator when submitted. There have not been many annuals at this point.
It is hard to read some of the handwritten notes at times. Building Blocks
would appreciate it if providers can be on board and complete the Annual
Review form as well.
The form shows that evaluators value what the current therapist has to say.
The form has already been provided to Invo HealthCare and UCP to pilot.
Trish wanted an idea of how therapists were going to feel about the
additional paperwork and to see if Megan was getting the desired results.
The form is very beneficial. The parents are asked to participate in filling out
this form. UCP recommended to their staff that if there are things that could
be offensive or possibly misunderstood by the family, the therapists should
consider sending that information in an email to the evaluator so they have it
as a FYI.
Families seem to be asking about standard deviation as they do not
understand what it means and what level their child is. Is there a way to put
it in family friendly terms so it is easily understand? Holly will send the graph
explaining standard deviation to providers.
New Programs
The budget for 2015 has been passed. This has resulted in approval for EI to start
services with a Nutritionist, Social Worker and possible Autism testing. If any
providers know of a nutritionist or social worker, please let Trish know. These
services have been effective as of January 2015.
Providers are asking that Trish send out criteria of what the nutritionist and
social worker will be doing so that the SCs will know when a child needs to
be at to recommend for —services.
The nutritionist and social worker would bill through PROMISe like all other
providers and would have a state set rate.
Electronic Contract Process
Reminder: the County has implemented an electronic contract process. A document
was sent out to all providers titled “Electronic Signature Process”. The document is
step by step on how to effectively e-sign contracts and amendments through Echo
Sign. If the document was not received or providers have any questions, please
contact Erin Nye (ednye@franklincountypa.gov). Providers should direct any
questions regarding the signature process to Erin but should still direct any
questions regarding the contract information to Trish.
Updates from Holly (SAM)
SAM has a new fax system; the faxes come in to a folder as a PDF. When faxing to
SAM, please only send one child at a time.
Early Intervention Provider Meeting
Friday, January 16, 2015
4
For 2015, Holly is interested in putting together a booklet that shows all providers
in the Franklin and Fulton area. The booklet will give providers a chance to talk
about their agencies (mission statements, services provided, years of business, etc.).
Please let Holly know if you would be interested.
There has been a massive decrease in referrals. The number of referrals decreased
by 26 children from November and December. However, referrals are already at 17
for January. In 2014, January referrals were at an all-time high of 51.
Holly discussed going back to referral sources (such as physicians) to let
them know when families do not follow through with the referral. If anyone
has any ideas for Childfind, please let Holly know. Holly also discussed
visiting and sending information to the physicians that are having trouble
making referrals to EI. It is possible that some physicians are not pushing for
referrals as other are.
A recommendation was made to have posters made, like the ones used in
Fulton County. The poster includes a pull tab of the number to contact for
Early Intervention services.
Next Meeting: Friday, April 17, 2015 starting at 10:00 a.m.
Located at the Human Services Building
Remaining 2015 Meetings:
July 17th October 16th
Minutes by Erin Nye