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, 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
During winter sessions, speech therapists often use this soft clothing item to model early concepts like “on,” “off,” and “pull.”
What is a mitten?
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. Otherwise, I wish your little one continued success in the Early Intervention program. 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."
Speech therapists love using these wintertime animals in EI because toddlers naturally engage in sounds like “waddle waddle,” “tap tap,” and “brr!”
What are penguins?
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
This document must explicitly state that cotreating is a strategy IF the provider intends to cotreat.
What is IFSP?
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"
Rolling pretend “snowballs” back and forth during play helps EI providers build this foundational communication skill.
What is joint attention?
This board approves educational courses that are used for continuing education credits in early intervention.
When a family’s insurance plan ends, providers must do this after the policy’s final active day—unless they receive a new insurance card, a 45-day waiver, or authorization to bill the state.
What is place services on hold?
This document lists the child's goals that can be utilized to frame sessions and include in documentation.
What is the IFSP Outcomes page?
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."
Pushing toy trucks through “snowdrifts” provides great proprioceptive input, also known as this playful OT term.
What is heavy work?
These two forms are to be emailed to Provider Connections when your Temporary credential is due for renewal
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
What is Benefit Verification?
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 15-60 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!