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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEI Provider Meeting Minutes 8-21-15Early Intervention Provider Meeting Friday, August 21, 2015 EI [1] 8/21/15 Staff Present: Trish Elliott, Ashley McCartney, Steve Nevada, Erin Nye Providers: Jody Bering (Lincoln Intermediate Unit #12 - LIU), Lauren Everetts (Fulton County Medical Center – FCMC), Holly Whiteside (Service Access & Management, Inc. – SAM), Beth Fairchild (Early Intervention Technical Assistance – EITA), Jenn Hawbecker (UCP of South Central), Isabel Stennett (BOPIC, Inc.) Providers Absent: Keystone Autism Services, Building Blocks Therapy, Tuscarora Intermediate Unit Conference Call: Adam Rowland (Advanta Therapy), Theresa Miller (Invo HealthCare) MEETING MINUTES 1. Welcome & Introductions Everyone introduced themselves and their agency affiliation. 2. Contract Process Providers thought the electronic contract process was great as it made it much easier! If anyone has any suggestions for improvements, please contact Erin. 3. Self-Verification Update & Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) Development A new verification process was developed that took two years to get things in place to roll out as a pilot. Starting in January programs had a verification visit or completed self- verification. The visit consists of a team coming in to get an overview of the program and how it is operating vs. self-verification where the review is completed within. This year, Beth Fairchild worked with Trish, Holly and Jenn to look at their program and regulatory program management. In the future, there will probably be more team effort from providers and families. Self-verification was due by May 15th. Verifications take place every 4 years while self-verification takes place in between that timeframe. Beth had a visit with the Bureau EI Advisory at the end of June which focused on Quality Enhancement Plan development.. The Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) takes the place of the improvement plan that was used to take care of compliance issues. QEP is to look at, not only compliance, but also improving all aspects of a program. Beth reviewed the QEP packet. Page 11 of the packet has Results Goals which is how you (the program) are going to improve. Results Goals revolve around ECO outcomes. At the end of the packet is a Results Goals – Locally Identified. This is something the programs are really interested in doing to improve services to children and families. All programs Beth has worked with will be applying for a Results Goals Grant that state is offering this year. Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000. It can be used for states Results Goals or locally identified goals. If a program submits a grant by August 14th, they could start receiving funding the beginning of September, if approved. Applications are being accepted until December 2015 if the funding is still available then. Franklin/Fulton EI has applied to increase the number of children receiving services through the Coaching model. It is in hopes to receive the full grant. From the EI Advisor, Early Intervention Provider Meeting Friday, August 21, 2015 EI [2] 8/21/15 Franklin/Fulton EI did a very good job on their self-verification. There are things that need worked on which is where the direction to apply for the grant to reflect more of the Coaching model came from. Several providers have participated in the Coaching model training and the Community of Practice meetings once a month. The Community of Practice meetings are open to anybody who would like to attend. The meetings count towards education hours as well. Providers expressed their thoughts on the Coaching model. It has been found that children have made so much faster progress with parent involvement. The Coaching model is an evidence based practice where research and evidence shows that families and children benefit from it. Parents are enjoying the model and feeling self-worth as they are actively helping their child. Therapists have found it to be helpful in working with families. One of the activities of the grant is to put together a packet for the SCs and families on information about coaching expectations. 4. TCM Billing through PROMISe Billing for case management services will no longer be going through Pelican, instead using PROMISe. At this point, there is no set date. An independent software company is trying to work with SAM, Inc. to develop a computer program to make the billing process easier. Holly explained what the Service Coordinators (SC) bill for. As a FYI for providers, SCs are working on updating plans. The SCs now have to think about how much time they will be spending with families and this billing will look different then it had previously. SAM is making some changes on how they want things entered into their systems; this does not affect how services are being provided. 5. PROMISe Provider Revalidation Enrollments An email was sent out to all providers in regards to provider revalidation enrollments. Trish encourages providers to take care of this process immediately so they are not at risk of not being qualified for a time period. If the application is in but not totally completed by the March date, they will allow you to go back and bill; however, if not in by the March date then you will be unable to bill. The revalidation is a long process. An issue a provider ran into when revalidating is the service location portion. The provider entered their office as the location. The application came back and said it is the therapists’ homes. A recommendation was made to go into EEPEP to change the therapist location. Further discussion was held on what is needed for therapists to obtain MA numbers. Early Intervention services providers completing revalidation activities must submit a complete and accurate application to the following address/email: › Office of Child Development and Early Learning Early Intervention PROMISe Enrollment 333 Market Street – Floor 6 Harrisburg, PA 17126 › Email: RA-PWOCDELEIENROLL@pa.gov Note to providers: the therapist application has been updated three times already this year and just again this month. The most updated form must be used or it will be kicked back. The Early Intervention Provider Meeting Friday, August 21, 2015 EI [3] 8/21/15 state is looking to put the application online in November. However, it is recommended not to wait until November to apply. 6. Early Learning Standards Early Learning Standards will be discussed at the next EI Provider Meeting. Everything about the standards is color coded. Providers can download them for free (60-70 pages) but must purchase the full standards. Trish is working on a plan in hopes to purchase the standards for providers. The standards will be mentioned to families. They will not be part of the IFSP; it will be discussion when they get to preschool. If anyone needs assistance, the LIU has been using the standards for years. 7. New Provider Monitoring Tool This tool is not ready yet; it is still in draft form. 8. ECO and Upcoming Trainings Our EI Advisor stated that Franklin/Fulton EI has one of the highest numbers in counties for getting their ECO entrance and exits in. It was questioned whether our exits match the preschool entry. There appears to be a training issue on ECOs. ECO training information is included in the packet handed out. There is currently only one webinar available as of this morning for EI staff: September 3rd, 7:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. There are still leader webinars available. If each person needs credit, they must each log on separately. It is encouraged to email Linda Ryan to see if you can be put on the waiting list for the webinar. There is also a face to face training which has not been put on the calendar yet. Trish would like all staff to take the training and would like to see the certificate. Staff that is experienced should be fine with just attending the webinar. However, new staff should attend the all-day face to face. The webinars will be archived and able to watch at a later time. There was discussion how ECOs come in as a 6 or 7 but should have really been a 3 or 4. The expectations are different. One problem Holly is running into is when closing out children that age out in July and it’s now August and the ECO hasn’t been entered. OCDEL states it must be in within 60 days of when the child was closed. Although you may have completed it, it does not count until it is entered into the system. If therapists are unsure if an ECO needs done, please consult with a SC. 9. Fulton County Medical Center The Fulton County Medical Center was approached 3 years ago to provide Early Intervention services through the medical center. FCMC has now been providing Physical Therapy (PT) for two months and has just added Speech Therapy (ST). Currently, they are waiting on MA numbers. Things are going well. FCMC is serving five PT and two ST children. Therapists are transitioning from the Medical model to the Education model. Flexibility is incorporated into therapists’ day. The first year of contract, the FCMC agreed to about 50% case load, 20 hours a week allotted. The therapists will be able to go to trainings through the Coaching grant, if grant is approved. At this point, FCMC is only accepting referrals within a certain number of miles. It is in hopes as they grow to stretch out that number. Early Intervention Provider Meeting Friday, August 21, 2015 EI [4] 8/21/15 If the grant is approved, Trish would like to host trainings in Fulton County and work together as a Community of Practice. Trish would also like to see FCMC, as they become accustom to working in the EI system, travel to Path Valley and Dry Run to provide services. As for Fulton County outreach, a billboard was put up (facing Franklin County) and posters were put in all doctor offices. Certain doctor offices will not make referrals no matter the condition of the child. A presentation was done at Tri State some time ago. At that time, EI was receiving a large amount of referrals from them. However, a doctor resigned and referrals are no longer received. That doctor did, however, switch to another office in which Holly went to talk to that office. Outreach has been done to the CYS office in Fulton. They do not want anyone else doing their ages and stages. Holly is unsure who they are missing from Fulton as they feel they have touched base with all doctor offices/offices that would make EI referrals. Marketing is a huge issue in Fulton County. 10. Fiscal All provider projection spreadsheets were sent out. If a provider has not received a spreadsheet or they have any questions, please contact Ashley. At the top of the spreadsheet is “Estimated Average Monthly Expenses”, this is just a guideline. Please do not project that amount each month unless that is truly accurate. At the bottom of the projection sheets, please provide an explanation if there was an increase or decrease from the previous month (Ex: more children received MA or children aged out, etc.). This would be very helpful! Ashley has worked with some providers at the end of FY 14-15 comparing the actual billing expenses providers had versus EI systems versus the County systems. There have been some discrepancies. The last couple years this comparison has been done at the end of the FY; it will now be done monthly at the end of the billing cycle. It appears glitches usually take place in July and August billing. Ashley is trying to make sure all systems agree. There is currently no budget in the state of PA; nothing will be decided until a budget is passed. Franklin and Fulton counties continue to fund programs out of general funds. This will continue to be monitored as it is unsure how long the Commissioners will be able to fund programs. Next Meeting: Friday, October 16, 2015 starting at 10:00 a.m. Located at the Human Services Building (HSB) Minutes by Erin Nye