School Health Services Program News |
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Our newsletter is a Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (the Department) publication which provides information on the School Health Services (SHS) Program. The Colorado SHS Program is administered by the Department in collaboration with the Colorado Department of Education. Providers participating in the program may receive federal matching funds for amounts spent in providing health services through the public schools to students who are receiving Medicaid benefits. |
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Save the Date - Mid-Year Refresher Training |
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The School Health Services (SHS) mid-year refresher training is right around the corner.
The trainings will take place Jan. 25 through Jan. 28, 2021. Similar to the SHS annual trainings, these trainings will also be on a virtual platform. Detailed information and registration links will be emailed and posted to the Department website soon.
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The most recent stakeholder meeting was hosted by the Department on Oct. 8, 2020. As Free Care is in effect, the meeting topic was how the program expansion is going within the different regions. Many districts approached the program expansion in phases, first starting with training current roster participants on the new random moment time studies (RMTS) questions. The main highlight from our meeting was learning many districts are moving forward to adding new staff to the Staff Pool List (SPL) and focusing on other plans of care meeting compliance. It is important that once you start adding staff to the SPL who provide direct services to students who have a 504 plan, behavior plan or any other medical plan of care that these plans meet compliance for having medical necessity established by a qualified provider and the plan has scope, frequency and duration for the services prescribed.
As a reminder, the Department has a Free Care Resources section on our website for your reference. For information on our stakeholder meetings and how you can find your Stakeholder representative, please reference our Stakeholder Forum website. Please do not hesitate to reach out to the Department or your Stakeholder if you have any questions.
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National Alliance for Medicaid in Education, Inc. (NAME) |
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NAME, in partnership with Healthy Schools Campaign, is hosting a variety of online learning sessions in place of a 2020 conference. Topics for the sessions have included Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updates on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and school-based Medicaid, as well as Behavioral Health and Delegated Authority, school-based telehealth and school-based services expansion in Michigan. Past webinar recordings are available under the Members Only page of NAME's website. Announcements for future sessions will also be posted to this section, so check back often!
Did you attend the 2019 conference in Albuquerque, NM? Your membership will expire on Dec. 31, 2020. Be sure to renew your membership for just $50 to continue having access to the Member's Only section of NAME's website and future virtual learning sessions in 2021! Not a member? - Sign up through the website.
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The Oct. - Dec. 2020 (OD20) quarter kicked off the expansion of services to include Free Care. There were several notable changes to the RMTS regarding moments listed below:
- Moment response window narrowed from five (5) days to two (2) days.
- Prior moment notifications were reduced from five (5) days to twenty-four (24) hours.
- Moment notification schedule was altered to accommodate the revised timelines:
- Prior notice of twenty-four (24) hours.
- Prior notice of six (6) hours.
- Prior notice of one (1) hours.
- Actual moment in time.
- Late notice of twelve (12) hours.
- Late notice of twenty-four (24) hours.
- Late notice of thirty-six (36) hours.
- Time study questions were revised to help capture Free Care services.
Although there were many changes to the times study this quarter, one important parameter did not change regarding moment expiration. Moments expire at 11:59pm on the last day of the response window. Moment expiration time did not change from previous quarters.
Participant training screens were updated to include the revised time study questions. These training screens should be included in district trainings to remind participants they will not receive access to their survey question until all ten of these screens have been viewed and advanced. The training screens have examples of moments, but do offer participants the option to answer questions.
New licensure requirements were also instituted in OD20. Please reference the Appendix 2 - Qualifications in the SHS Program Manual for the specific licensure requirements by job category.
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The OD20 quarter marks the first quarter to commence during the pandemic. Many questions from districts have been presented about how to handle specific instances related to the impact of the virus. Please don't hesitate to contact PCG or the Department for guidance on this subject. Below are some COVID-19 specific questions and answers for reference:
Question: My providers have been sent home to self-quarantine, how should they answer their moment?
Answer: Providers working from home should answer their moment questions as they've been asked. If providers are not working, they can answer their moment accordingly. If a provider is not working for an extended period, then the coordinator will need to communicate leave status details to PCG.
Question: Do I need my calendar reopened to mark a day as an unplanned closure?
Answer: No. Once the quarter has started you can mark a day as an unplanned closure at any time. To do so, click on the calendar tab, then select the Unplanned Closure button and click on the applicable day(s). After doing so, click the Save Changes button which will lock in your edits.
Question: I've noticed I'm billing a lot less this quarter due to our online learning environment. Will this negatively impact my reimbursement?
Answer: We don't know what the impact on reimbursement will be at this point. Major claiming variables that influence reimbursement include, RMTS percentages, district reported expenditures, billing volume and Medicaid enrollment population. The Medicaid enrollment populations consists of the Medicaid Enrollment Rate (MER) and the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) ratio.
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Quarterly Cost Reporting Tips |
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Medicaid Administrative Claiming (MAC) reporting is performed by districts on a quarterly basis. Some helpful tips when navigating the PCG Claiming System are listed below to help Coordinators with some common topics that raise questions:
Quarter selection: Once logged into the PCG Claiming System, remember to select the correct fiscal year and quarter from the drop-down menu. The system will always default to the current quarter so make certain you select FY21 and Oct-Dec 2020 from the annual and quarterly drop-down options when reporting costs in January 2021 for the OD20 quarter
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Reporting Cost: Be sure to enter costs for all individuals (even if costs are 0) and select the best explanation from the explanation drop down menu when an explanation is required. If there are individuals who no longer work for your district, please be sure to communicate with your RMTS coordinator to remove them from the SPL
Export/import feature: For coordinators who utilize the export/import feature to enter costs, a list may be exported to gather cost information prior to import. When direct replacements and vacancies occur during a live quarter the import file will update accordingly. As a best practice, export a new list before you are ready to import your costs and compare to see if any changes were made to the SPL to avoid import errors.
Edit explanations: If many triggered warnings occur when uploading costs, it can be cumbersome to select explanations from the drop down for each warning individually. Try exporting the file again after costs have been imported and any triggered warnings will now show up on the export. Add a filter to the header column and filter only for data under the ‘Warnings’ column. This will allow you to quickly address each warning utilizing the drop down. Remember to remove the filter before saving and re-importing your file.
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Colorado Department of Education (CDE) Updates |
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Question: Concerning signatures required for the CDE School Health Services program, like on the Local Service Plan (LSP) assurances document and parental consent to bill for example, what are you considering an e-signature?
Answer: Electronic signatures are an area of rapidly evolving technology, especially during COVID-19. While e-signatures may be used if an original handwritten signature is not obtainable, it is up to each district to determine what form of e-signature is appropriate.
Question: Will the e-signature need to be documented and kept on file with the district?
Answer: Yes. It will be important to maintain a copy of the e-signed consent clearly showing the name of the person who signed the consent and the means used to obtain the signature. For example, if a district chooses to use an e-mail confirmation as the e-signature for consent, then it would be important to attach a copy of that e-mail to the consent.
Question: Would an email from a parent stating consent be valid?
Answer: Each district will need to determine which mechanisms are acceptable. The recommendation would be to work with your district, Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and/or charters legal advisors to establish how this process will be done.
Question: With the release of the 2021-2026 LSP guidelines and templates, do districts have to redo their LSPs using the new categories?
Answer: No, unless a district is planning to create a new LSP for the 2021-2026 cohort, they do not have to redo their LSP using the new templates.
Question: What are some of the major changes from the new 2021-2026 LSP guidelines?
Answer: Districts no longer need to track unduplicated student count, number of equipment purchased, or use percentages to allocate their funds within health service categories. Please review the 2021-2026 Local Service Plan guidelines for more information.
Question: How will the new health service spending categories affect districts using the old categories?
Answer: Districts who are using the old categories and do not plan to redo their LSP for the 2021-2026 term are not required to use the new categories present in the new LSP templates. However, we will only be releasing one version of the Annual Report to CDE which will use the new categories. Tools will be provided to support districts using the old categories to input their data into the annual report. These tools will come at a later date.
Question: I still have questions concerning the changes in the new 2021-2026 LSP guidelines, what do I do?
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Get to Know - Omar Estrada |
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Omar has worked with the CDE since 2016 and joined the SHS Program in the Health and Wellness unit in August. Omar will be helping districts in the forming of their LSPs and reporting of their annual reimbursement spending through the Annual Report to CDE. Prior to joining the SHS Program, Omar worked as a consultant with the School Health Professional Program and managed the Project AWARE Colorado Program.
Omar graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S.B.A. with an emphasis in Finance. Omar loves to go hiking, lifting weights, and spending time with his nephew.
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Jan.14, 2021
9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Location: Online
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April 15, 2021
9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Location: TBD
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Jan. 4, 2021
Oct. - Dec. 2020 (OD20) quarterly financials open
Jan. 13, 2021
Quarterly financials refresher training
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Jan.31, 2021
Oct.- Dec. 2020 (OD20) quarterly financials certifications due
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Nov. 30, 2020
Jan.- March 2021 (JM21) Staff Pool List (SPL) and calendar certifications due
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Feb. 1, 2021
April-June 2021 (AJ21) SPL and calendar opens
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The School Health Services Program is a joint effort between the Colorado Department of Education and the Department of Health Care Policy & Financing.
Additional SHS Program Contacts:
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