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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEI Provider Meeting Minutes 10-20-17Early Intervention Provider Meeting Friday, October 20, 2017 EI Provider Meeting 1 10/20/17 Staff Present: Jenn Hawbecker, Ashley McCartney, Stacie Horvath, Ashley Yinger, Erin Nye Providers Present: Linda Hess and Matt Yingling (Service Access & Management), Krista and Phillip Miracle (Pediatric Therapy Specialists of South Central PA), Adam Rowland (Advanta Therapy), Cynthia Bosserman and Lori Beam (PennCares) Providers Present by Phone: Faith Blee and Shelley Tobin (Invo HealthCare Associates), Megan Lesko (Building Blocks Therapy), Rachel Bechtel (Aspirations, LLC) MEETING MINUTES 1. Welcome & Introductions Everyone introduced themselves and their agency affiliation. Additional introductions were held for the new MH/ID/EI Administrator, Ashley Yinger and the new Human Services Administration Director, Stacie Horvath. 2. Fiscal Updates If anyone needs assistance or has any questions pertaining to projection spreadsheets, please contact Ashley McCartney. Please continue to send projection spreadsheets to both Ashley and Jenn. 3. New Referral Process/Provider Booklet Jenn has received feedback on the new referral process. As from the SCs, it is time consuming. As different providers are sending back availability, they have to keep track of that information, who sent it and who didn’t, etc. Some providers are being very specific with their times while others are not. Some of the families would state they had availability but when provided the times no longer did. The process can be reoccurring. Jenn further discussed concerns of the process. The process was changed due to trying to help in meeting 14-day deadlines. Jenn wanted to see if something else would work as round robins was not working. Most of the families do not have a preference when you give them a list. It was to make sure families were getting a choice on times and providers. Providers expressed their concerns of how the new process limits therapists’ times. There have been some issues with SCs forgetting to notify the providers that a slot has been filled by another provider. Providers are having to hold onto time slots while waiting to hear back. A suggestion was made to get the top three dates and times from families when sending requests to therapist or to ask the families when they are absolutely not available. Another suggestion was discussed on how the SCs are approaching the families. Therapist schedule is something that should be explained to the families. Early Intervention Provider Meeting EI Provider Meeting 2 10/20/17 Holly and Jenn will be meeting to discuss the referral process and the possibility of how to tweak it. For now, the referral process should continue as is. Looking at the numbers for new services picked up and the number of services agencies are providing, there are three (3) big providers who provide the most services. From the time of Jenn starting in July, one (1) provider has gotten the short end of receiving services but overall, looking at how referrals have been distributed, it’s been pretty even. 4. Provider Booklet Several years ago Holly discussed a booklet that the Service Coordinators (SCs) could provide to families that talked about each agency that provided services within the counties. The booklet could include specialties that each therapist has as well as highlighting any service provided. Holly gathered information from providers at that time. Jenn will be sending an email out to providers as a decision has been made to create the booklets. Holly has sent Jenn previous information that was received from providers. Jenn will be sending that to the providers and requesting updated information. 5. Provider Monitoring It is the time of the year where Jenn will be completing provider monitoring. Self- verification is due January 19th which is an earlier submission date compared to previous years. Self-verification is the process the County goes through to make sure the program is on target. It is done every year but on the fifth year there is verification with the State. Jenn will reach out to providers to have the monitoring completed within the next few months. Jenn will be looking for months of billing (this will be for several children; Jenn will provide names and months), children’s records, and training records of staff (all their hours completed, clearances up to date and child abuse training done). For this year, the providing of services is not on the monitoring tool but it is best practice to make sure session notes are written in a family manner and there is documentation on the session notes. In addition to provider monitoring, every year the MH/ID/EI Advisory Board has a list of monitorings to complete. This year is Service Access & Management for all three programs. Sheldon Schwartz, chairperson of the Board, will be attending along with MH/ID/EI staff. 6. Session Note Submissions to SAM When submitting session notes to Service Access & Management (SAM) please make sure the SCs are receiving them by the 15th of each month. If for some reason you are unable to meet the deadline, please email Holly so she is aware. The process that we have for giving information to providers when a new referral is accepted is by releasing the information that is documented in Pelican to the providers so they can get the contact information to contact the families for the first time. If for some reason providers do not have a notification from the Service Early Intervention Provider Meeting EI Provider Meeting 3 10/20/17 Coordinators (SCs) with twenty-four (24) hours that it is ready, please send an email to the SC and cc’ Holly. 7. QEP Review Community of Practice – The first Community of Practice (CoP) meeting for FY 17-18 was held on September 15th. Presenters from the Children’s Aid Society came to discuss foster care systems and adoption services. Two foster families attended and shared their experiences with the system. The next CoP meeting is November 17th from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Jenn is currently looking for a location for this meeting. If anyone is aware of a location, please let Jenn know. For the next meeting, Jenn is working on finding a presenter to talk about behaviors and strategies that families can use for difficult behaviors in their home as well as things that therapists can do to help the families. 14-Day Deadline – As part of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), 14-day deadline needs to be discussed at each provider meeting. A copy of the QEP was distributed at the last meeting. Jenn and Holly reviewed data in Pelican on 14-day deadlines. The data is a month behind but as of the end of August, 14-day deadlines are at 100%. As long as the therapists are documenting attempts to meet with the families and the family chooses a different time outside of the 14-day deadline then it does not get counted against the program. 8. LICC Updates Fulton County – Jenn discussed inviting Jenny Morgan and Amy Spade-Elias to the next Fulton County LICC Meeting to discuss their project on building an adaptive playground and their future goals. A holiday celebration for EI families (birth to three and preschool) will be December 5th at the Fulton County Library from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. It will be opened to the community and used as child find. The celebration will inform families about early learning opportunities and EI services. Plans will be finalized at the next LICC meeting. The next Fulton County LICC meeting is November 21st at the Fulton County Library from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Franklin County – Coyle Free Library (located in down town Chambersburg) is undergoing major renovations. It is scheduled to open for business mid-November. Open house will take place the first week of December. Jenn has been working with Sarah Applegate to host a community baby shower for pregnant women, new moms, and community members. The library has a theater so there will be movies for older siblings. There will be activities as well as requests for donations for clothes Early Intervention Provider Meeting EI Provider Meeting 4 10/20/17 and raffles to give away strollers and other equipment. Those involved will be seeking businesses to make donations. More information will come. The next Franklin LICC meeting is November 16th at the Franklin County Head Start from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. 9. Provider Updates and Announcements UCP of South Central PA has changed their name to PennCares. The new website is up and running – www.penncares.org. Additionally, Shannon Lorusso, who was the teacher at Child Development Group, is now doing Special Instruction full time and is no longer the teacher. Diane Mello, who was the Teacher Assistant, is now the Teacher. PennCares hired an assistant teacher. There are openings for the child development group. Pediatric Therapy Specialists – Jenny Morgan and Amy Spade-Elias are looking for a location in Fulton County to build an adaptive playground. If anyone knows of a church or school that is willing to work with them, please contact one of them or Krista Miracle. Invo HealthCare is now Invo Progressus. The program formed a family of companies and is growing. The agency stays committed to the programs they are serving and will now have additional resources to call on. Building Blocks reminded everyone to submit annual evaluation review forms. The annual review form gives a complete and clear picture for the team. It allows therapists to see new skills or if quality of skills aren’t developed as well as assisting the therapist in the child’s ongoing needs. The team can look deeper into areas that may not show up on a test. 10. Provider Reports The following reports are due prior to the next EI Provider Meeting: › Audited Financial Report (for fiscal year ending June 30th)  If your agency requires an audit and you cannot get it before the December 31st due date, please send Ashley an email requesting an extension. › Monthly Employee Debarment and Exclusion Check Reminders will be sent out three to four weeks prior to the due date of the report. Please see procedure statement MHIDEI-416 Contracted Required Reports and Due Dates for additional information. If anyone has any questions, please contact Jenn or Ashley. Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 17, 2018 starting at 10:00 a.m. Located at the Human Services Building (425 Franklin Farm Lane) 2018 Meeting Schedule January 17th April 18th July 18th October 17th Minutes by Erin Nye