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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEI Provider Meeting Minutes 01-20-21Early Intervention Provider Meeting Wednesday, January 20, 2021 Staff Present: Jenn Hawbecker, Ashley McCartney, Stacey Brookens, Erin Nye, Dan Rhodes, Larry Reed Providers Present: Adam Rowland (Advanta Therapy), Lauren Everetts (Fulton County Medical Center), Deborah Marsilio (Inspire Health and Education), Keith Parker (My Therapy Tree), Krista Miracle (Pediatric Therapy Specialists), Cynthia Bosserman and Lori Beam (PennCares Support Services), Holly Whiteside and Shannon Napoli (Service Access & Management), Marci Walborn (UCP of Central PA), Rachel Bechtel (Aspirations), Faith Blee and Stefany Messina (Invo HealthCare Associates), Megan Lesko (Building Blocks Therapy) MEETING MINUTES 1. Welcome & Introductions This meeting was held via Google Meet. All providers introduced themselves and their agency affiliations. 2. Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) Updates Jenn Hawbecker reminded providers that they should continue to use the Decision Tree when deciding whether to go into homes for in-person visits. Providers should ensure that all members of the team agree with the decision and utilize the service coordinator to address any questions or concerns. Jenn informed providers that OCDEL had updated the wording of a specific screening tool question about contact with individuals that have been exposed or potentially exposed to COVID-19. A link to a PA Department of Health notification regarding quarantine recommendations was also added to the screening tool. Staff and family members should answer all screening tool questions prior to each in-person visit. 3. Billing Jenn reviewed important reminders for County billing that had been discussed during the October EI Provider Meeting and requested that the providers in attendance share this information with their billing staff:  Providers should email both Jenn and Ashley McCartney to notify them about all billing voids or adjustments.  Providers should reconcile the County Remittance Advice (RA) received from Ashley with the Provider Reimbursement and Operations Management Information System (PROMISe) RA.  Providers should ensure that any billing voids or adjustments are correct/completed on the County RA.  Providers should reconcile all County RAs with the electronic fund transfer (EFT) payment amount received. Early Intervention Provider Meeting Wednesday, January 20, 2021 Jenn thanked providers for their patience while various County staff assisted with covering billing duties during recent weeks. Ashley informed providers that all July through December 2020 billing should be entered into PROMISe by February 2nd in advance of the County’s calendar year end closing. If providers are not able to enter any outstanding 2020 billing by this date, they should let Ashley know when it will be entered so that she can request the necessary approvals. Providers should enter as much of their 2020 billing as possible by February 2nd so that it can be processed within the appropriate timeframe. 4. New Announcement: Coaching OCDEL issued its “EI Service Delivery: Coaching Across Settings” announcement on November 30th with an effective date of December 1st. The purpose of this announcement is to provide guidance and consistency in the implementation of a statewide coaching initiative for EI service delivery across infant/toddler and preschool settings. OCDEL has started to roll out a process for implementing the initiative which identifies Franklin/Fulton EI as being in the Exploration Phase for FY 20-21. As per OCDEL’s instructions, Jenn has formed a six (6) to eight (8) member Core Leadership consisting of herself, Holly Whiteside, a service coordinator, and provider agency administrators. The team will be attending a series of four (4) monthly webinars from February to May in order to gather more information on the processes and procedures for coaching across settings. They will also be responsible for developing and monitoring a coaching action plan that will be written into Franklin/Fulton EI’s next Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Jenn will send providers additional information on the coaching initiative as it becomes available. 5. Early Childhood Outcomes (ECO) Discussion Franklin/Fulton EI’s most recent QEP had a statewide goal focused on providing social emotional support to children and families in the program. The QEP Planning Team has been gathering information from the social emotional indicator on entry ECOs in order to monitor progress towards this goal. The team is looking into how children’s scores have changed upon entering and exiting the program and which social emotional supports were provided for children that scored three (3) or lower on their entry ECO. Jenn had previously sent providers questions to inquire whether staff had the tools needed to complete Developmental Profiles and to assess the level of oversight given to staff submissions of ECOs, Developmental Profiles and Child Outcome Reporting Forms. Based on her discussion with Early Intervention Technical Assistance (EITA) staff about ECO scores not matching up with Developmental Profiles, Jenn asked meeting participants the following questions:  Do you feel that your staff know how to complete ECOs and Developmental Profiles after taking the ECO 101 and 201 trainings?  Do you feel that your staff know how to follow the crosswalk and take information from the Developmental Profile to complete the Child Outcome Reporting Form? Early Intervention Provider Meeting Wednesday, January 20, 2021 Cynthia Bosserman noted additional training is needed because the current ECO webinars do not address how to complete the Developmental Profiles with information from The Ounce. While families and therapists do the ECO together, they often have different views on the child’s development. Cynthia also mentioned that the training should better explain to therapists why the information recorded in ECOs is important, and why different profiles are used for entry and exit ECOs. Marci Walborn observed that the in-person ECO 201 training featured a more detailed discussion of The Ounce being an authentic assessment tool compared to the online version of the course. Marci stated that there could be additional training on how The Ounce differs from a standardized assessment, how to use it properly, and converting the scores to rating scale. Holly suggested that providers could assign experienced staff to mentor new staff on using ECO and The Ounce. Furthermore, providers can encourage more frequent communication about these topics at team meetings and increased collaboration among staff of all experience levels. Krista Miracle stated her staff receive an overview of ECO during orientation and she works with them to complete their first ECO. Krista has noticed that special instructors tend to have more difficulty learning the crosswalk between The Ounce and ECO compared to therapists due to being less familiar with assessments. Lori Beam suggested that recordings of actual therapy sessions could be viewed during trainings to provide a demonstration of what to observe while completing The Ounce and ECOs. Jenn will share this feedback with Liz Wagner-Simmons and Mary Anketell at EITA. Liz and Mary are willing to assist with the planning of an ECO refresher course. Jenn would like to offer a brief interactive virtual course which allows participants to ask questions and receive clarification. 6. Provider Registry Jenn reviewed the following timeline for the implementation of the Provider Registry:  March 30th: All service coordinators and EI providers (including agencies and individual staff) should have their accounts set up. All provider agency administrators’ accounts should be linked to infant/toddler EI programs in any counties where they are provided.  August 1st: All service coordinators and EI providers should have all training hours entered for FY 20-21.  September 1st: By this date, Jenn will be able to receive reports on the information that has been added to the Provider Registry. Providers may set up their account by accessing the Provider Registry website at https://www.papdregistry.org. Jenn will send out a PowerPoint presentation with the meeting minutes which contains instructions for creating agency administrator and individual staff accounts. Early Intervention Provider Meeting Wednesday, January 20, 2021 Jenn reviewed the responses to frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the Provider Registry that have been submitted to the OCDEL resource account (RA- ocdintervention@pa.gov). Providers may submit additional questions or report any issues with creating/updating their account profile to this resource account. Cynthia confirmed that agency administrators can select a leadership role and remove the assignment of specific counties while creating their account profile. Holly reported that she is working with her staff to set up their account profiles by the end of January because the system indicates that it may take up to sixty (60) days for account applications to process. Jenn confirmed that individual provider staff will need to upload transcripts, resumes, clearances, certifications and licenses to their account profile by August 1st. After the system is fully operational, staff will no longer have to send these directly to Jenn because she will be able to pull a report from the provider registry to verify all documents are up to date. 7. New SAM Procedure Holly shared that a service coordinator will be attending each child’s first therapy session whenever possible in order to briefly introduce themselves as a point of contact for questions about resources and available services. This new procedure is a result of SAM restructuring all of its Pennsylvania sites along service lines in 2020 to improve the consistency and quality of services. Shannon Napoli stated that the main purpose of the procedure is to support both families and therapists by building relationships and explaining the roles/responsibilities of each EI team member. For example, the family will learn how they are involved in the decision making process related to their child’s services. SAM will measure the outcomes of this procedure by documenting when the service coordinator attends the first therapy session. Providers can contact Holly or Shannon if they have any questions or concerns. 8. Staff Clearances The extended deadline for the FBI clearance passed on December 31st. Provider staff should schedule their fingerprinting appointment for this clearance well in advance so that it can be processed in a timely fashion. 9. Provider Updates and Announcements Fulton County Medical Center The COVID-19 vaccine is now available in Pennsylvania for individuals that are ages sixty- five (65) and older. Fulton County Medical Center will be setting up a hotline to accommodate the scheduling of vaccination appointments for these individuals. Early Intervention Provider Meeting Wednesday, January 20, 2021 PennCares Support Services PennCares recently hired two (2) special instructors and is looking forward to the new staff starting their case loads. Invo HealthCare Associates Invo has introduced a new web-based system called Central Reach. Staff can enter electronic notes into the system and parents can access progress/evaluation reports and digitally sign documents through the system’s portal. Service Access & Management (SAM), Inc. A new intern recently started at SAM. The intern is a college student with an interest in EI and will be working/attending meetings virtually. OCDEL will soon provide service coordinators with access to HelloSign, a program which allows them to send out documentation for electronic signatures. This program will expedite the process of receiving signed releases from families and getting medical necessity approved by doctors. Shannon introduced herself as SAM’s EI Manager for Franklin/Fulton Counties. Pediatric Therapy Specialists (PTS) PTS has two (2) new speech therapists: Tori Bearfield serves Fulton County and Lori Mace serves Franklin County. An occupational therapy student has started an internship working with three (3) PTS therapists in Cumberland and northern Franklin Counties. Some of PTS’ therapists have started to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Aspirations Aspirations has been working to gather and send documentation for its compliance monitoring. There have not been any recent staffing changes for Franklin/Fulton Counties. United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Central PA UCP of Central PA hired a special instructor for nutrition in November. This new staff member has completed onboarding/orientation and taken on their first Franklin/Fulton County child. My Therapy Tree Some of My Therapy Tree’s therapists have started to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. 10. Additional Updates and Announcements Erin Nye Larry Reed has started as MH/IDD/EI’s new Administrative Officer. Providers should begin to notice more emails coming from Larry as he transitions into the roles and duties of this position. Jenn Hawbecker Jenn highlighted a recent email that Erin sent to providers regarding the availability of mobile crisis services in Franklin and Fulton Counties. This information should be shared Early Intervention Provider Meeting Wednesday, January 20, 2021 with families and community members. Providers can reach out to Jenn with any questions and she will connect them to Erin, Jim Gilbert, or Cori Seilhamer. The contract process for FY 21-22 will be starting soon. Jenn will send Appendix A and budget packets to applicable providers by early February. Both documents must be returned to Jenn and Ashley by March 31st 11. Provider Reports Due Prior to the Next Meeting  Progress Report on Outcomes in Appendix A (only for providers who have a contract of $50,000 or more) – January 31st  Schedule of Revenues/Expenditures (July – December, for non-state set rates) – February 15th  Appendix A for upcoming fiscal year – March 31st  Budget packets (to include Budget/Rate Letter, Staff Roster, Unit Assumptions, Budget Narrative, for upcoming fiscal year if appropriate) – March 31st  Monthly Billing – due 15th of each month  Employee Debarment and Exclusion Check – due 15th of each month Reminders of these reports are sent out 3-4 weeks prior to their due date. You can also review the reports/due dates in procedure statement MHIDDEI-416 Contract Required Reports and Due Dates. Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 21, 2021 starting at 10:00 a.m. 2021 Meeting dates: April 21 July 21 October 20 Minutes by Dan Rhodes