MMA UPDATE
The Early Steps State Office (ESSO) remains committed to providing technical assistance to Local Early Steps providers (LESs) during this period of transition of Medicaid Early Intervention Services (EIS) and Targeted Case Management (TCM) services from the fee-for-service model to the Managed Care model. The Department/Children’s Medical Services/ESSO and Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) focus includes:
- Facilitation of productive and constant conversations between both the Local Early Steps (LESs) and the MMA plans, while providing ongoing education and technical assistance about EIS and TCM.
- Monitoring and collecting information from LESs and MMA plans on contracting status and improving the current finalized contract percentage between the LESs and MMA plans.
- Identifying challenges and a refining the billing process to allow external providers to submit claims to MMA plans for reimbursement of EIS and TCM services through Change Healthcare and Early Steps Data System.
- Continuing to provide guidance to LESs and MMA plans about the Medicaid provider enrollment process, reimbursement, and service provision.
- Identifying and addressing concerns that may negatively impact provider network adequacy.
- Working with LESs to determine efficiencies in administrative tasks to assist with recouping claims, as needed.
- Monitoring the fiscal impact of the transition by developing a process to track the use of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C funds for Medicaid recipients.
On May 14, 2019 through May 20, 2019, ESSO conducted conference calls with each individual LES to provide targeted support and to determine additional assistance needed to support closing out the 2018/2019 contract year. After analyzing the information provided by each LES, ESSO has provided support in the following ways:
- Expending the deadline for submission of the final invoice for contract year 2018-2019 from 45 days to 60 days from July 31, 2019, the end of the contract year.
- On-site and remote targeted technical support activities with identified LESs to assist with recouping funds for services provided through June 30, 2019.
- Identifying and implementing long-term improvement strategies for claims processing
THE 2019 EARLY STEPS STATE PLAN
The Early Steps State Office posted the 2019 Early Steps State Plan on the Children’s Medical Services website. In accordance with Section 391.308(2)(c), Florida Statutes, the Early Steps Programs is required to develop a state plan annually that meets the following requirements:
- Assesses the need for early intervention services
- Evaluates the extent of the statewide need that is met by the program
- Identifies barriers to fully meeting the need, and
- Recommends specific action steps to improve program performance.
The 2019 Early Steps State Plan, was developed in collaboration with stakeholders to ensure the program serves all potentially-eligible infants and toddlers, implements a high-quality continuous improvements system, provides evidence-based practices that improved child and family outcome, and manages based on performance and fiscal data.
To review the 2019 Early Steps State Plan go to the following link; Early Steps State Plan.
THE 2019 FAMILY SURVEY RESULTS
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C, requires Part C lead agencies to report on family outcomes resulting from families’ participation in early intervention in each state. Specifically, states must describe the extent to which families report that early intervention helped them:
- Know their rights;
- bEffectively communicate their child’s needs; and
- Help their children develop and learn.
To address this federal reporting requirement, Early Steps implements a process for families to submit a family survey. This year, 2,595 families were eligible to receive a survey, and 1,383 surveys were returned from across all Local Early Steps programs, a 53.3 percent survey response rate. This response rate is a slight decrease from last year’s response rate of 60 percent.
The family survey is used to measure Indicator 4: Family Outcomes. The statewide results are as follows:
- Indicator 4a: 84.6 percent of families report that Early Steps services helped them know their rights.
- Indicator 4b: 81.5 percent of families report that Early Steps services helped them effectively communicate their children’s needs.
- Indicator 4c: 92.3 percent of families report that Early Steps services helped them help their children develop and learn.
The 2019 statewide percentages for Part C Indicator 4 exceed the following state targets: Indicator 4a - 77.5%, Indicator 4b -74.5%, and Indicator 4c - 89.5% and show a small increase from 2018. The statewide results revealed that families primarily completed the survey in their home or at an Early Steps meeting or appointment.
The results of the survey will be reported in Florida’s Annual Performance Report to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), on the Early Steps website, and to LESs to help develop improvement strategies. Representatives from each LES, including; the LES Director, Family Resource Specialist, and Family Survey Lead, will also discuss their program’s family survey process and results with ESSO staff to determine areas of improvement for next year’s survey process and overall family involvement and engagement, based on their program’s survey results.
PARENT OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE ON FICCIT
The Florida Interagency Coordinating Council is recruiting parents to serve on the Council for Infants and Toddlers (FICCIT). The purpose of FICCIT is to assist public and private agencies in implementing a statewide system of coordinated, comprehensive, multidisciplinary, interagency programs to provide appropriate early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Membership in FICCIT includes representatives of various agencies, parents, and caregivers. The members of FICCIT are also required to meet quarterly at various locations in Florida. However, all travel expenses for FICCIT members are paid by the Early Steps State Office.
Parental participation is vital to the success of FICCIT’s mission. Recently two parent seats became available on FICCIT. The seats must be filled by a ‘parent of a child with a disability aged 12 or younger’. If you are a parent of a child age 12 or younger with disabilities and your child receives services through Early Steps, or has received such services in the past, please consider applying for membership. Interested parties may apply at the Governor’s Appointments Office website
To learn more about FICCIT, visit http://www.floridaicc.com/index.html. For additional information and contact Hannah Naitove, FICCIT Liaison, or (850)245-4427.
BUREAU OF EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATION AND STUDENT SERVICES
Look for the current issue of the BEESS Weekly to be posted at the end of the day each Friday. Archived issues of the Buzz Weekly Memo will be placed here as well, so you can reference them as often as needed. The web page can be found at https://www.fldoe.org/academics/exceptional-student-edu/beess-resources/presentations-pubs/weekly-memo.stml
EARLY STEPS TRANSITION TRAINING AND TOOLKIT
The Early Steps State Office is developing a transition training video to assist Service Coordinators and families during the transition conference, when a child exits the Early Steps program. The transition training video will provide an overview of the steps and services required on the Transition Plan of the Early Steps Individualized Family Support Plan, suggested best practices for completion of the Plan, and helpful tips to ensure a smooth transition occurs for the child and family. The transition training video will also focus on actions related to the various activities the child and family will experience.
In addition to the transition training video, a Transition Toolkit of Resources has been posted to Component 7 Transition. This can be found on the Early Steps website. Links to helpful transition documents are listed for use by local Early Steps staff and families. As other resources become available, links will be added to the Transition Toolkit Resources. For questions related to this transition training, please contact the Lakera Reddick at the Early Steps State Office or (850) 245-4186.
2019 ONE GOAL SUMMER CONFERENCE
The 2019 One Goal Summer Conference will be held at the Hilton Tampa Downtown in Tampa, Florida, on July 17-19, 2019. The 2019 One Goal Summer Conference brings together over 900 early education and care providers and leaders from around the state. It is designed to share information on best practices and to build common frameworks of knowledge and understanding to assist in unified planning for young children and their families. The conference will include general sessions, concurrent presentations, and exhibits of appropriate materials. For additional information visit the following link 2019 One Goal Summer Conference.
MILITARY FAMILIES LEARNING NETWORK EARLY INTERVENTION WEBINAR SERIES
The Military Families Learning Network (MFLN) Early Intervention (EI) team continues to conduct the 2019 series called “Sunrise to Sunset: Supporting Children with Autism Through Their Day.” All MFLN EI webinars carry free continuing education credits from the Early Intervention Training Program. Webinars in this series also carry free BACB CE credits for those attending the LIVE webinar only.
The next webinar of the series entitled “At Our Best: Caregiving Today | Kids Serve Too!” is scheduled for July 10, 2019, at 11:00 am – 12:30 pm. This webinar will address strategies for connecting with families through the Sesame Street for Military Families website, highlight the importance of self-care for providers including ways to overcome obstacles, and offer strategies to develop a self-care plan to meet the needs of caregivers and those that they support. The MFLN will apply for 1.5 continuing education (CE) credits from the University of Texas at Austin – Steve Hicks School of Social Work. For additional information on the webinar visit: At Our Best: Caregiving Today, Kids Serve Too!
FIVE STEPS FOR BRAIN-BUILDING SERVE AND RETURN
The Center on the Developing Child (The Center) at Harvard University has designed a new free video to support brain-building in young children entitled, “5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return”. The Center is a multidisciplinary team committed to driving science-based innovation in policy and practice to achieve breakthrough outcomes for children in the early years of life.
The video provides information on how to help build a child’s brain before they are able to speak. This how-to video breaks down the simple serve and return interactions method into 5 simple steps and features adults and young children doing each step together. The Center on the Developing Child believes the simple serve and return interactions method between adults and young children help make strong connections in developing brains.
For additional information and free resources on go to the following link; 5 Steps for Brain-Building Serve and Return.
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