New Staff in the Early Steps State Office (ESSO)
Ms. Jackie Gaylord has joined the Quality Assurance, Accountability, and Monitoring Unit in the Early Steps State Office. She comes from the Bureau of Medicaid Policy, Specialized Health Services in the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), where she was responsible for: provider alerts, bill analysis, Medicaid policy requests, rule revisions, managed care plan questions, contract interpretations, policy transmittals, and maintaining accurate policy fee schedules. She also provided technical assistance and consultation to field office staff, providers, and local and state government associations. Ms. Gaylord was previously employed as a director of residential services where she served adults with developmental disabilities and maintained systems of mentoring, oversight, and accountability for multiple residential services. She has 23 years of experience serving individuals with disabilities in the community. Please welcome Ms. Gaylord to the ESSO staff.
Important Upcoming Policy Change: Only Electronic Claims Accepted Starting August 1, 2018
As the Agency for Health Care Administration and its fiscal agent, DXC Technology, moves towards automation and environmental sustainability, all in-state Florida Medicaid providers will no longer be able to submit fee-for-service paper claims. Effective August 1, 2018, these providers will have two options to submit Medicaid claims for processing: 1) submit an X12 electronic claim transaction, or 2) submit claims using the direct data entry (DDE) option through your secure Web Portal account. Paper claims received by DXC on or after August 1, 2018 from in-state Florida Medicaid providers will no longer be processed.
For more information on how to submit claims via an X12 electronic claim transaction, please Click Here
For more information on how to submit claims using the DDE option via the secure Web Portal, Click Here
Note: Fee-for-service exceptional and out-of-state paper claims will continue to be accepted.
Providers may contact the Provider Services Contact Center for any claims-related inquiries, or if they wish to speak to a field services representative at: 1-800-289-7799, option 7.
Florida Receives Performance Determination
In accordance with federal reporting requirements identified by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Educations Programs (OSEP), Florida’s Early Steps annually receives a determination that is based on its performance over the past year. This determination specifies if Early Steps is in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C requirements or needs some level of assistance.
This year, the U.S. Department of Education, continued to use both results and compliance data in making determinations for each state.
There are four categories of determinations to define the extent to which each state has met the requirements of the IDEA, Part C: Meets Requirements, Needs Assistance, Needs Intervention, and Needs Substantial Intervention.
For 2018, Florida has been determined by the OSEP to be in "Needs Assistance" in meeting the requirements of Part C of the IDEA. This determination is based on the totality of the information received from each state, including the following:
Later in the fiscal year, Florida will use results and compliance data to make determinations for each Local Early Steps (LES) using the same categories. The selected determination will impact the level of accountability reporting required by each LES.
Learn the Signs Act Early
The Learn the Signs Act Early (LTSAE) program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers free research-based family-friendly resources on child development at https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/resources.htmlprogram is CDC's effort to improve early identification of developmental disabilities by empowering parents and other care providers to ‘learn the signs’ of typical development and ‘act early’ on developmental concerns so children and their families can get the services and support they need as early as possible. The Early Steps State Office would like to obtain information from programs regarding how this program is used to support and complement developmental monitoring and screening for infants and toddlers eligible for Early Steps in the “At-Risk” category and any other local uses of LTSAE resources. Please follow the survey link below to provide feedback no later than Monday, August 6, 2018. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LESLTSAEATRISK
Implementation Research and Practice for Early Childhood Development
A special issue in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published in May 2018 targets implementation research and practice for early childhood development in several areas based on reports and case studies. This issue offers multiple recommendations for evidence-based interventions, programs, practices, and policies in early childhood development.
Milestones in Action – Now Available in Spanish
The Learn the Signs, Act Early program from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/spanish/actearly/milestones/milestones-in-action.html Spanish version of The Milestones in Action library. This resource was created to help parents, early care and education providers, and healthcare professionals to identify developmental milestones in very young children and areas of concern. No permissions are needed to use the photos and images in this library for educational or awareness-building purposes.
Baby Talk: Resources to Support the People Who Work with Infants and Toddlers
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute has published its June 2018 issue of Baby Talk for caregivers of infants and toddlers. A compilation of recent articles on topics such as social-emotional development, best feeding practices, and imaginary play are included. Visit the archive for past issues of Baby Talk.
The Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children, and Families: Guiding Principles
The Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children, and Families are a set of guiding principles that raise awareness about inequities and injustices embedded in our society. The Tenets guiding principles empower individual practitioners, agencies, and systems of care to identify and address the social justice issues intricately intertwined with all infant mental health work. These guiding principles are rooted in belief that self-awareness and intentional action are the cornerstones of principles of equity and inclusion. The Tenets are a product of the Irving Harris Foundation Professional Development Network. Learn More
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