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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEI Provider Meeting Minutes 7-19-13Early Intervention Provider Meeting Friday, July 19, 2013 Staff: Trish Elliott, Ed Franchi, Ashley McCartney Providers: Holly Whiteside, Natasha Kara & Linda Hess – SAM, Inc. Conference Call: Cynthia Bosserman – UCP, Shelley Tobin – Invo, Gina Rowland – Advanta, Megan Lesko – Building Blocks, Debbie Reuvenny – Keystone Absent: Rick Wynn Meeting Minutes Welcome & Introductions –  New Providers Starting in fiscal year 2013-2014, Franklin/Fulton County Early Intervention has welcomed two new providers – Western PA School for the Deaf and Sovia Therapy, Kelly Rice. Unfortunately, neither provider was able to attend the provider meeting due to other obligations.  Fiscal/Budget Updates End of Fiscal Year Billing - It is time to close out FY 2012-2013. Please make sure that Ashley has (if she does not already have) any expenses or billing that is still left to be billed for the period ending June 30th. This information is needed as quickly as possible so that we can let the state know how much more funding we need. Right now, we are close to $90,000 over the official allocation that we received from the state to provide early intervention services. The state did come back and tell us in an email that they would provide us with about $75,000 of additional funding. However, we still have not received anything formal. As of right now, it means we are anticipating asking the state for additional funds of $15,000 to cover the services provided throughout the year. If providers have any problems getting that information to Trish by the close of business on Monday, July 22nd, please let us know as quickly as possible. If you know that you are having an issue billing for services and are unable to fix it by Monday, please let Ed, Ashley or Trish know so that we can accrue for that. Ed stated that the Commissioners want to be kept up-to-date on this information. Questions/Comments: Cynthia Bosserman: UCP has not received an RA for June yet. Ashley explained that this is the one they are currently working on with the provider to get resolved. Ashley: if June billing is already complete, please send an email to Ashley stating that all billing is done. This is so she does not continue to look for any billing from that particular provider. Ed also suggested stating in that email, for the entire fiscal year how much the provider has billed. This is so Ashley can compare the numbers in case any billing was missed. Projection Sheets – We need to try to be on top of billings and projections throughout the fiscal year of 2013-2014. Looking ahead, we will continue to use the projection sheets that were previously provided. Ed asked what would be beneficial for providers in completing their projected billing form. Ed has also asked Ashley to personalize a projection sheet for each provider in terms of their contract amount. In the top corner in big numbers will be the estimated average amount of billing per month. This will help everyone to be aware of the spending pattern each month and plan accordingly. Ed explained that, while Early Intervention is a mandated service, the state is only mandating the service up to the amount of funds that can be provided. The state appears to be struggling to find dollars to pay for Early Intervention services. If we do not get the dollars from the state then we will have to go to our Commissioners to see if they are willing to pick up the amount we are over budget. By updating the projection sheets, it should help us be more on top of billing. Questions/Comments: Trish: Exactly when does fiscal want the projection sheets? Ed replied when providers send their monthly bills in, try to get in a regular routine of sending the projection sheet along with it. The first couple months of the new fiscal year will be difficult to project but please try to do your best. The first quarter, we might not end up doing anything but reviewing the sheet. After the first quarter, if projections appear to be off from the contract amount, we will start questioning things. Starting in January, and the second half of the fiscal year, we will look at the projection sheets closer. Hopefully this is a first step in finding proactive ways to manage encumbrances. Trish discussed that last fiscal year it was helpful to ask the state for money early. Early Intervention realized that providers would be over their encumbrances in the first quarter of the 2012-2013 fiscal year. We need to stay on top of billing, that way if we need to ask the state for money again this fiscal year we can do so early. Trish is concerned looking at the contracts already for the new fiscal year that there will not be enough money to provide services through the end of the fiscal year. Megan Lesko: Is this the same sheet providers should do the split between Franklin and Fulton counties? Ed suggested changing the projection sheet to add the split of the counties so that everything is on one sheet. Debbie Reuvenny: She wants to know if the sheets can be individualized. Keystone is unable to have both the projection sheet and split of counties on the same sheet due to one being submitted by Keystone’s local office and the other coming from the corporate office. Ashley will need Debbie to provide her with a contact of who to send these reports to. Debbie also asked if it is okay for the form to be in email form so everyone can be on the same page. The reply to this was yes. Megan Lesko: Regarding the sheet that providers split Franklin and Fulton counties, for evaluations we do not know who the MA children are until we do the billing. The next month we would be able to adjust that. Ed stated maybe as the month goes on when we get better at tweaking the projections, etc. we can go back and adjust the forms. Holly recommended to Megan whenever you put a child in for billing to check the promise eligible for that date of service. It might not be an exact but it might give you a better projection. Linda and Holly do this for themselves. A lot of times a child has MA but might have lost it on the date the evaluations were completed. The first 5 pages of the evaluations always have the county the child resides in. The only SAM service coordinator that is setting up Fulton County evaluations is Rachel Lane as well. The split between Franklin and Fulton counties is definitely needed starting July 1st. Providers need to put the units and the amounts separate per county. It does not matter if it is on the same invoice or two separate invoices, as long as you provide the split. The Fulton County Commissioners definitely want to see this information. Although EI is not in the block grant, the reporting that goes to the state will reflect the block grant reporting format and will require any joinder to split out the services by county. The report from the state should be out in about three weeks.  ECO – Early Childhood Outcomes Holly has spoken with other counties regarding ECO. Holly would like the providers to start putting the ECO report in Pelican themselves. She does not want to see them or receive a copy of them because she does not need them for any reason. SAM is not required to keep a record of them for service coordination. The only time the ECO will be discussed is when Holly closes a child and looks at the entry and exit. Holly has been entering the ECOs into Pelican since we started. If any provider needs walked through how to enter the ECO into the system, Holly can show them how to do so. Questions/Comments: Cynthia Bosserman: Do we have the role to do that? Holly stated that other providers have that particular role and suggested providers check with LMS to be sure. We do not like to assign the exit for the ECO at the beginning because that information can change due to a therapist no longer working with a child. Holly thinks it will be quicker for the provider to enter the ECO into the system. Holly has entered the ECOs that were recently sent to her. Providers will start entering the ECOs themselves on Monday, July 22nd. Gina Rowland: In a case where there are multiple therapists (such as ST and OT), will the SC let the assigned therapist know to complete the ECO. Holly stated that this has always been done. Gina also mentioned when the therapists write the ECOs down on paper and faxes them in, since they will be entering them in the system now, does EI still want to see the form. Trish stated that when she monitors a provider who is responsible for the initial entrance of the ECO or the exit, the provider must have a copy of that entry and exit report. Debbie Reuvenny: Under the form, Debbie made the suggestion that she puts a note of the date she enters the ECO. Keystone will get a list of children and sometimes it is stated that a child was not entered into the system, by documenting that information, it allows you to know the date that you did enter the ECO into the system. Also, Pelican does date stamp when the ECO is entered.  Miscellaneous Franklin/Fulton MH/ID/EI is implementing an electronic contract process. An email was sent out on July 16th to all providers explaining the new process and what to expect. If anyone should have any questions, please contact Erin Nye at ednye@franklincountypa.gov or 717-264-5387.  Comments Advanta Therapy’s website went live this week. The address is www.advantatherapy.com. Trish recently sent out an email to all providers about a baby contest. The State Enrollment Contest is a national competition that aims to reach more pregnant women and new moms with important health information. The mother would receive a text with information regarding a pregnancy up to the baby’s 1st birthday. The state that enrolls the highest percentage of pregnant women, mothers and fathers during the contest period will be the winners and offered national exposure. Trish sent the flyer to see if we can get people to text for baby. Holly commented that Western PA School for the Deaf (Special Instruction-Hearing) and Sovia Therapy (Special Instruction-Vision) are going well. These providers have replaced the Lincoln Intermediate Unit when there contract ended June 30, 2013. Trish also commented that she has met with both providers and felt they would be a good fit. The therapists have been working with the families to make it a smooth transition. Holly has been going out on visits a couple times a month to monitor service coordination. She is enjoying getting to see the work the therapists do again. Holly is attending visits as required monitoring by SAM.  2013 Provider Meeting Dates All provider meetings are on Fridays at 10:00 a.m. in the Human Services Building on 425 Franklin Farm Lane in Chambersburg. October 18th The meeting was adjourned. Minutes by Erin Nye