HCS (Home & Community-Based Services) application approved

I received this on May 5, 2011:

Good Afternoon,

Congratulations, your HCS and/or TxHmL application was reviewed and approved! Waiver Survey and Certification (WS&C) will send out the invitations for the August 2011 Training. I don’t know exactly when the letters/invitations will be sent out, it might be a month, possibly two months before they send them. I just wanted to put your minds at ease and let you know the good news!

Thanks So Much,

Kat Weaver
Program Specialist
HCS/TxHML Program – Contracts

HCSSA license!

The Burdeaux Microboard was notified today that our HCSSA license was mailed!
This is very exciting!

The HCSSA license is the credential needed to apply for both the CLASS & MDCP contracts as the DSA/provider.
Since the HCSSA licensing is so rigorous, the contracts are not so hard. I’ll try to get that paperwork ready before the license comes in the mail!

Yay!

The value of this Microboard so far

You may remember that this whole process started with a PATH (see the picture in the title). It helped us set goals and priorities for Arabella and Darin’s futures.

We did that in April 2010.
Then in August 2010, we moved across town, and transitioned Arabella to a different public school. IT WAS A TERRIBLE PLACE. She was fully included in a general education classroom, which I thought was my biggest priority for her.
But when I was faced with deciding between a fully-inclusive public school situation, or a 4-kid special education environment at a private school… I looked back at the PATH:

• What was important to us in the future?

Looking at her PATH, I saw dreams of a peer group and a Christian faith.
This made the decision so much easier – inclusion wasn’t showing up in our future. But Horizon (her current school) could help with a peer group and daily chapel to build her faith.

HCSSA license application update

We are still waiting to be approved for our HCSSA license, so we can then apply to be a CLASS provider.
We submitted the HCSSA license toward the end of November 2010.
We got a response on January 6, 2011 asking for 3 additional items that were very easy to assemble.
I resubmitted that in mid-January.
So now, DADS has 45 more days to respond again.

Board meeting agenda (2/7/11)

At our meeting on Monday…

As you can see from the agenda 2 posts ago, we are finally having our 2nd board meeting.

• We will be looking at the PATH (the big picture that helps us see the steps to our goals for the kids), and seeing how we are doing.
• I will be presenting to the Board the entire application for the HCSSA license, and proposing we send that in.

I’m not absolutely sure that our Policies & Procedures Manual includes EVERYTHING that the HCSSA license is asking for… but I have included everything that I know to include.
I had a call on Friday with a representative from the HCSSA department – and she said that 85% of license applications are sent back with some deficiencies that need to be resolved.
So I think it is time to send it in and get the “to do” list from them.

Quiet, but busy…

If you have been watching this blog, you may have decided we were not pursuing the provider contract anymore.
WRONG!
The summer just got very busy, and so the mountain of paperwork got pushed aside.

But I have spent the last 2 weeks, night and day, reviewing the various laws that govern getting the HCSSA license, and creating a Policies & Procedures Manual to match the laws.

It is very close to complete… I hope.

Board meeting agenda (11/1/2010)

Phase 2: Becoming the CLASS DSA (Direct Service Agency)

Becoming the CLASS DSA will have 2 main steps:

1. Get an HCSSA license for Licensed Home Health Services
2. Get contract with DADS for CLASS services

Today at the Board meeting, I presented this process to the Board of Directors.
I needed for all of them to agree that the steps are a good decision, that the risks outweigh the expenses.
We are the first people in the Texas Microboard Collaboration to attempt to contract with DADS for CLASS… and to attempt to get a HCSSA license.

They were all very hopeful and supportive.
Here is the shortened “to do” list that I went over with them:

HCSSA license	Proposed timeline	Needed to complete
1. Designate an Administrator and Alternate Administrator. Administrator appointee needs to do 8 hr training prior to designation Alternate Administrator appointee needs to do 8 hr training prior to designation	By July 9	Bank account $400
2. Complete the Pre-Survey computer-based training, Completed by Administrator – 4 hrs Completed by Alternate Administrator – 4 hrs Completed by Supervising nurse – 1 hr Completed by Alternate supervising nurse – 1 hr	By Aug 1	Designation by Board prior to date of completion
3. Apply for State Tax Exemption Complete Actual or proposed 2-yr budget Complete Detailed description of all of the organization’s activities Complete any amount of charges for services and how chares are determined Complete the criteria the recipients must meet to receive the services Use/include website that describes the activities of the organization Copy of any application used to determine eligibility for the organization’s services Submit Texas application for Exemption – Charitable Organizations	. By July 9 By July 9 By July 9 COMPLETE COMPLETE
4. Properly complete the license application, and include all required documents: Application Form 2021 Corporation: Certificate of Incorporation Articles on Incorporation By-laws Letter of Good Standing from the Comptroller’s Office or Exemption Letter Proof of National Provider Identification Number Proof of Tax ID Number via Documentation from the IRS Copies of certificates from 1 & 2 Form 2022, Criminal History Check Current resume Administrator Alternate Administrator Supervising nurse Alternate supervising nurse Job Descriptions Organizational Structure of the Agency A written plan to provide annual continuing education for management personnel. Written plan for the orderly transfer of care if the applicant is unable to maintain services.	. By Sept 1 COMPLETE . . . By Aug 1 . COMPLETE COMPLETE (step 1 & 2) By Sept 1 . By Aug 1 COMPLETE By Aug 1 By Aug 1 By Aug 1 By Sept 1 By Sept 1 . By Sept 1
5. Pay the required license fee Licensing fees: $1,750	By Sept 1
6. Be approved by DADS. DADS will issue or deny the license within 45 days.	By Nov 1

CLASS Contract:	Proposed timeline	Needed to complete
1. Required documents: Form 3681, Community Services Contract Application Form 3691, Service Area Designation Form 5871, Disclosure of Ownership and Control Interest Statement Form 4732, Nongovernmental Contractor Certification Form 4109, Application for Texas Identification Number 2. Optional documents: Form 4108, Direct deposit authorization 3. Community Living & Support Services Training 4. Be approved by DADS. Usually takes approximately 30-60 days from the date your complete application is received by DADS. The effective date of the contract will be determined by DADS, but will be no earlier than the first day of the month following the month after the application has been fully completed and executed	By Dec 1	. . . . Bank account

Board meeting agenda (6/10/2010)