Welcome to our Self-Directed Services monthly newsletter, where we share updates, reminders, and helpful information to support you in self-directing your services.

Monthly Webinar Series

Our webinar series covering important topics related to self-direction continues on Tuesday, November 19. This month’s webinar on Revised Budget Sheet Tips will cover important reminders and tips for successfully completing a revised budget sheet. 

We hope you'll join us for the next webinar in the series:  

Revised Budget Sheet Best Practices  

Tuesday, November 19, 2024   

1:00pm - 2:00pm via Zoom    

The Zoom link will be sent to everyone on the morning of November 19, 2024. 

The webinar is open to Participants, CCSs, Support Brokers, and other team members and advocates. 

Need to catch up on previous webinars? Find links to our previous webinars on our Forms and Resources page under "Webinars and Presentations."

Self-Direction Team Spotlight 

This month, we're proud to spotlight Phu Cao, Assistant Manager of Financial Reporting. 

Phu joined The Arc in July 2023 as a Senior Financial Reporting Specialist on the Financial Reporting team. He later became Financial Reporting Team Lead and was promoted to Assistant Manager of Financial Reporting in June 2024.

In his current role, Phu assists the Financial Reporting Team Manager and Senior Financial Reporting Specialists on reviewing and auditing budget processes to ensure accuracy and effectiveness. He works with the Assistant Manager of Processing to improve process efficiency, maintain quality standards, and train new Financial Reporting Specialists.  

"I'm fortunate to be a part of a dynamic and cohesive team," says Phu. "I truly value the contributions and assistance from each of my team members as they accomplish whatever our tasks require. I also appreciate how everyone collaborates with other internal teams and the support from our leadership." 

Forms & Resources

Submitting Invoices

When initially submitting invoices or mileage forms for payment, please submit them to their respective mailboxes.

• fmsmileage@thearcccr.org is for submitting mileage reimbursements
• fmsvendor@thearcccr.org is for submitting invoices for reimbursement

Payments will be made based on our Accounts Payable Calendar. Initial submissions of mileage reimbursements and vendor payment request forms should NEVER be made through our Ticketing System. 

If you have any follow-up questions after submitting your reimbursement request forms or payment was not received according to our Accounts Payable Calendar, feel free to place a ticket via our Ticketing System.

Additional resources can be found on our Forms and Resources Page.

To ensure the accurate and timely processing of invoices, reimbursements, and mileage, The Arc recommends using the following email subject line naming convention when submitting a payment request to fmsvendor@thearcccr.org or fmsmileage@thearcccr.org.

For payment requests submitted to fmsvendor@thearcccr.org:

Participant First and Last Name / Vendor or Payee Name / Month of Service / Year

Example: Joe Smith / Ability Inc. / August / 2024

For payment requests submitted to fmsmileage@thearcccr.org:

Participant First and Last Name / Employee Name / Month of Service / Year

Example: Joe Smith / Mary Jones / September / 2024

All payment requests are processed in the order they are received. Using this email Subject naming convention is not a requirement.  

Overlapping Shifts

On Sunday, November 10, The Arc is releasing a new feature in the Evvie system that will identify when shifts overlap by more than 7 minutes for services where 2:1 is not authorized in the PCP and the service is not allowed to overlap with a different service.

If any shift overlaps with another shift by more than 7 minutes for services that are not authorized to overlap, the following message will appear in the Evvie Portal when the Participant or Employee attempts to Approval Lock an individual shift:

Unable to Lock as Approved: This shift overlaps with another shift and cannot be locked as approved. Shifts for 1:1 services cannot overlap by more than 7 minutes. Participants should work with their Employees to ensure shifts do not overlap.

When Batch Approval Locking shifts, shifts that are not authorized to overlap will not be eligible to be Approval Locked and will need to be adjusted. Please pay close attention to the number of shifts that are successfully locked while Batch Approval Locking shifts because overlapping shifts cannot be Approval Locked.

Services that are allowed to overlap with direct support services are Training, Paid Time Off, Paid Holidays Off, Support Broker, Day to Day Admin, and 2:1 services.

Either a Participant or Employee can adjust a shift manually in the Evvie Portal if it requires editing. Please view our Tools & Technology page for helpful Evvie resources, including our How to Adjust a Shift quickstart guide.

Training Guidelines

DDA training guidelines have been updated to align with the waiver requirements. Hands-on in-person training (meeting OSHA requirements) is required for both CPR and First Aid training.

CCSs should coordinate with Participants self-directing their services and the team to ensure these documents are submitted prior to expiration to ensure continuity of support and proper payment.

Employees have two options:

Fully in-person training – defined as training that takes place in a face-to-face in-person learning environment with an instructor in a classroom setting.

Hybrid/blended learning training – defined as training that takes place partially online and partially in a face-to-face in-person learning environment with an instructor in a classroom setting. **Online skills training is not acceptable. Both CPR and First Aid training must include hands-on in-person skills assessment.

All updated training certifications should be submitted to FMSTrainingDocumentation@thearcccr.org for processing.

Remember that employees may be paid for their time in these required training sessions using the “Training” line items of the service(s) they provide.

Suggested Resource for CPR/First Aid Training:

American Red Cross Training Services

The Arc is here to assist with all your Self-Directed Services needs.

If you have questions or need assistance, our Stakeholder Relations team is available by phone 8:00am - 4:30pm Monday-Friday at 866.252.6871.

You may also place a ticket by clicking Open a Customer Service Ticket

Need to view the latest important announcements? Click Here!

Questions about using Evvie or using FMSE? Click Here!

Phone: 866.252.6871

Fax: 866.272.2236