It is cool to stay on top of your Credential Renewal
This is the website providers can search for their name to see the date of their credential
What is providerconnections.org?
Click "Provider Search"
Type in your name and you can view the date your credential expires
Temporary: will email in renewal paperwork
Full: will MAIL in renewal paperwork
This professional is responsible for coordinating services for a family and their child in the Early Intervention system
Who is a service coordinator?
These are the individuals that providers may bill for speaking with
Who is the IFSP team? (excluding associate-level therapists)
"What Billing for IFSP time DOES look like... Consulting with EI Providers that are identified on the IFSP regarding the child’s progress, outcomes, etc.
Note: Detailed documentation of discussion are required.
• Team members may also include:
• CFC Parent Liaison
• CFC Social Emotional Consultant
• LIC Coordinator
• Family’s CFC Service Coordinator
• Child’s Physician
• Early Childhood Professionals, Home
Visiting, DCFS, Child Care, etc."
Number of times and length of service is to be provided, i.e. number of times, per week or month, number of minutes, miles, etc.
What is the authorization frequency?
Utilize your "show breakdown" button on your dashboard to verify if clients have a make up session available and to see when your auth is expiring. Reach out early to SCs to plan for an annual meeting or request an auth extension
This item should be assessed for changes by the Provider each month
What is the child's insurance?
All providers, except DTs, should ask families at least once per month if there have been any changes in their health insurance.
If the family does have a new insurance, send a copy of the insurance card (front and back) to the Service Coordinator AND Positive Outcomes Admin
"If a family informs you that their private insurance benefits will be changing, direct the family to notify their Service Coordinator and contact the Service Coordinator directly to ensure a smooth transition.
For families obtaining insurance for the first time or changing benefit plans, Service Coordinators will receive a 45-day exception from billing insurance, beginning the day the CBO receives the change of insurance request from the CFC. This 45-day exception allows the services to continue and the EI Provider to bill the CBO directly for a period of time while the CBO, the CFC and the EI Provider all process the benefits verification information to determine benefits coverage."
This is the percentage of monthly ongoing professional development meetings you need to have documented during the span of your credential
What is 75%?
14/18 months for Temporary Credential
27/36 months for Full Credential
This is the official notification required if a therapist is unable to continue providing services to a family
What is a 30-day notice?
"As stated in 89 Illinois Administrative Code, Part 500.115(f) and the EI Provider agreement, all EI Providers are required to give a 30-day prior written notice to the child’s Service Coordinator AND the child’s family prior to terminating services for an eligible child."
Example:
Mr. and Mrs. Smith,
Thank you for the opportunity to provide services to your family. It has been a pleasure getting to know you! Due to frequent cancellations, I will need to return your child's case to their Service Coordinator. If you would like to have sessions over the next 30 days, please contact me for scheduling. Thank you!
These two reports should be "budgeted" for when planning to speak with Providers on the child's IFSP team
What are 6-month and discharge reports?
Example:
If a therapist has a 6-month report due in February, they should plan to collaborate with IFSP team members as needed in January.
This is the timeframe providers have to make up a missed session
What is seven calendar days?
"An EI Provider may make up a missed session, within seven (7) calendar days from the original scheduled date. If an EI Provider knows that a service will be missed prior to the regular date of service due to an upcoming leave, the EI Provider may complete the service up to seven (7) calendar days prior to the anticipated missed session date. If more than one date of service will be missed due to an extended leave and is unable to be made up, based on the guidelines above, it should be considered a missed session. NOTE: Do not provide multiple sessions in one week in order to make up for an extended leave (i.e., services on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of one week to make up for a three-week leave). If a weekly or monthly service session cannot be rescheduled within seven (7) calendar days from the original scheduled date, it should be considered a missed session. Given the frequency of illness in young children, family and EI Provider vacations, and other unforeseen issues, missed sessions are inevitable. However, they should not be routine occurrences. Providers should make every effort to avoid missing service sessions."
The bonus amount any therapist can receive after their Provider Referral has been with Positive Outcomes for 8 consecutive billing cycles
What is $750?
We love partnering with quality therapists who have a desire to serve families in Illinois! We do quarterly drawings for referrals submitted!
Log into your dashboard at positive-outcomes.org and click "Refer a Friend to Positive Outcomes"
The expected amount of Continuing Education credits to be completed before renewing your Full credential
What is 30 CE credits?
This is one way to build rapport with Service Coordinators
What is good communication?
Update Service Coordinators if you are not able to schedule a referral you received from them
Update SCs if the family becomes unresponsive
Update SCs with any pertinent information
Send reports in a timely manner
To avoid an unpaid claim by the CBO, Positive Outcomes encourages their providers to bill for IFSP time with this frequency
What is 1x/month?
This is the frequency in which supervisors must attend a session for each child on their assistant's caseload
What is 30 days?
"Supervision must occur for one entire direct service session every 30-calendar days"
If any EI Provider has reasonable cause to believe that a child known to them in their professional or official capacity may be abused and/or neglected, it is his/her responsibility to report the suspected abuse and/or neglect immediately to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).
What is a mandated reporter?
"The EI Provider shall report the suspected or alleged abuse and/or neglect by calling the toll-free DCFS Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-25A-BUSE. The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
It is not the job of a mandated reporter to determine whether abuse and/or neglect has truly occurred, the reporter only needs reasonable cause to believe abuse and/or neglect has occurred. In the case of a team of people working with the same child and family, the person with the most direct contact and information should be the one filing a report with DCFS."
What is the EITP website for free or a small cost or approved EI courses for a cost?
EITP.education.illinois.edu (free or small cost)
eiclearinghouse.org/category/credit/ (up to 5 credits of videos for every 30 CE credits)
motivationsceu.com/course-catalog (discount code)
clinicians-view.com (cost)
The service coordinator must ensure that this type of assessment is conducted within 45 days of the child's referral
What is a Developmental evaluation?
"Initial Evaluations/Assessments
The team’s evaluation of the child shall include: administration of the global and specific discipline’s evaluation and/or assessment tool;"
• Talking on the telephone with parents about scheduling or regarding the child’s progress, with the exception of emergency situations using phone consultation
• Leaving voicemails
• Speaking to interpreters
• Staff supervision time
• Routine preparation time (review of record notes, creation of learning materials, etc.)
• Consulting with EI Providers not identified on the IFSP, without specific consent, or not described within 3.12.7. d.
• Lunch/snack time
• Nap time
What are examples of non-billable IFSP activities?
-Use direct service time to discuss goals with parents (or supervision time if you are participating in a session with your assistant)
-Share claim notes with parents quickly to provide a summary and activities to work on for the next 7 days
This is the date that the existing ongoing authorization will end leading up to an annual IFSP meeting
What is the day before the Annual IFSP Meeting?
"Authorizations will end effective the day before the annual IFSP date entered into the system. If a new IFSP is written, new authorizations must be written and in-hand prior to any services being delivered in the new IFSP period. Meaning if a service is provided and billed using a previous authorization after a new IFSP is written, that service will be denied because the authorization would have ended.
In the event of an extended IFSP period, the existing authorizations must be extended as appropriate as well. The provider must ensure that those adjusted authorizations are received prior to delivering any additional services."
A meeting held on the first Tuesday of every month intended for provider's that have been in EI for less than 18 months
What is the New to EI Forum?
Go to EITP.education.illinois.edu
Click Training Events
Look for the next "New to EI Forum Meeting"
It will show the topic for that meeting and the link will take you to a location where you can ask your question ahead of time
What is the Consultation Verification form and Ongoing Professional Development document?
Consultation Verification form: signed by a Fully credentialed therapist of your same discipline after having billed 240 hours over 18 months
OPD form: Monthly meetings attended through Positive Outcomes or held with another therapist of your same discipline that is a specialist-level credentialed provider
The typical caseload volume for Service Coordinators
What is 50-65?
Billing for this length of IFSP time warrants extensive details of the conversation and goals discussed with other members of the IFSP team
What is 60 minutes of IFSP phone time?
"Detailed documentation of discussion are required."
EI Providers should complete documentation within this timeframe
What is daily?
"Maintain accurate records, including daily documentation of services for each date of service billed, including IFSP time, for a period of at least six years from the child’s completion of EI services (please see documentation definition found in the Glossary section of this document).
NOTE: In a monitoring review or audit it is the entity that submits claims and receives payments (payee) for each date of service and each procedure code billed to and paid by the CBO who is responsible for providing documentation for review. Failure to provide documentation will result in a refund.
Therefore, it would be to the advantage of the payee to require all employees or contracted employees to submit documentation to support billing and payment prior to submitting claims to the CBO for payment."
An individual that plays a vital role in the lives of families and their communities. They are empowering, compassionate, hopeful, dedicated, patient, supportive, inspirational, nurturing, and transformational.
What is a provider? You! We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with each of you!