RPAB Meeting 06-15-2005

 

Provider Advisory Board meeting 6/15/05

Present: Laurie Mack, Denise Gobeil, Gail Bailey, June Gagnon, & Lori Whittemore.

1. All contracted providers will need to be fingerprinted. Check DOE web site for information.

2. Lori said that contracts are almost ready to go out. They will have many enclosures. They will not be due back as quickly as usual.

3. We (Regional Provider Advisory Board—RPAB) will put letter with contracts to encourage participation at Provider Advisory. Denise offered to write this.

4. Lori was asked if we can post our minutes on the CDS web site, and she approved this. “The minutes will include: If you have any questions or concerns regarding provider relations with CDS, please consider attending the Provider Advisory Board Meeting to have your voice heard. The next meeting will be :__” We should send the minutes to: Mauricep@ cds-cumberland.org

5. There was no report from the CDS board because they didn’t have a quorum at their last meeting.

6. The Part C committee is continuing work on transdisciplinary assessment and treatment of children 0-3 and will be piloting this in the up-coming months.

7. Lori was asked about the drop in referrals for evaluations. She does not know of any reason for this, other than the multiple activities that may be taking time away from screening (i.e. PETS, reorganization.) The exception to this is that CDS is no longer accepting referrals for OT evals. on children with sensory concerns only.

8. The DOE is not approving any more Special Purpose programs until they get their monitoring tool in place. There is currently no protocol. It is almost done. Certification requirements going into effect at end of August will raise the bar. The State Dept. has hired a new person for monitoring CDS sites.

9. Lori is part of a task force looking at the criteria for Developmental Delay. Recommendations are being made for who is qualified to diagnose (i.e. autism, hearing impairment.) DD criteria will probably become more rigorous. Therapists should try to place a child in another category, and use DD as a last resort. Changing criteria to 2 SDs was not supported. Right now a child can be qualified with delays in two subdomains, such as receptive and expressive language. It is being recommended that subdomains not be used, only the domain. This is not adopted yet. The 5 domains under law are: Cognitive, Communication, Social-Emotional, Physical, & Adaptive.

10. Highlights in changes in contracts: 1- Having a contract does not entitle you to referrals. 2-Providers will need at least $400,000 in liability. 3-Providers need to keep records for five years (previously was seven years.) 4-Recommendations should continue to be made as: Intervention, No Intervention. 5- Providers are required to come to meetings. Lori says this hasn’t been a problem at our site.

11. Questions raised re Objectives: should they be written by the evaluator or by the treating therapist? Discussed, not resolved.

12. Summer Therapy Compensatory Services: Laurie M. said the form for a summer only child needs to have some kind of notation on it so bills won’t get kicked off. Lori W. said this won’t happen. There is a process in place now. Nicole Douglas puts in # of weeks child is on Waiting List, minus the first two weeks, so billing office has that information now. The amount of time spent on the Waiting List won’t be on the referral form. Laurie M. asked if it would say “Summer Only” on the forms? Lori W. will check.

Note to all Providers:
If you have any questions or concerns regarding provider relations with CDS, please consider attending the Provider Advisory Board Meeting to have your voice heard. The next meeting will be Thursday, July 21st, 3:30-5:00 at CDS in the large first floor conference room.