DADS released three information and three provider letters:
Community Care for the Aged and Disabled RC providers, CBA, AL/RC, and AFC:
CMS recently announced a 3.6 percent COLA increase in federal benefits. Because of late receipt of this news, HHSC will not implement the increase until February 1, 2012. (Letter)
NF, ICF, HCS, and TxHmL:
HHSC will delay the COLA increase in Retirement, Survivors and Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicare Part A and B premium amounts to February 1, 2012. (Letter)
HCSSA w/ DADS contract:
DADS released the results of a joint streamlining project (with Access and Intake, Contract Oversight and Support, and Regulatory Services) conducted during fiscal year 2011. An excerpt:
We are pleased to report that DADS identified several opportunities to increase coordination or eliminate duplication and has changed policies and procedures accordingly. Those changes are as follows: Several items reviewed during Regulatory surveys will no longer be reviewed by contract managers, including:
• Several items reviewed during Regulatory surveys will no longer be reviewed by contract managers, including:
o verification that providers document, investigate and resolve complaints reported to the provider;
o verification that individuals are informed of their rights and how to file complaints;
o verification that providers are conducting criminal history checks on unlicensed attendants;
o evidence of provider compliance in delivering seldom-used therapies;
o evidence of supervisory visits; and
o verification that interdisciplinary team meetings were convened in required timeframes.
Hospice, ICF/ID, and NF:
DADS clarified how to apply CMS Survey and Certification letter provisions in the context of the DADS’s current incident reporting requirements. (Letter)
All ICF/ID:
DADS informed providers that some Board of Nursing rules are more specific to the practice of professional nursing in Texas and may be viewed as more restrictive than the ICF/ID federal regulations. Providers must comply with the more stringent rules. (Letter)
All ICF/ID:
DADS clarified the Board of Nursing’s position on an LVN providing on-call telephones services to individuals in the ICF/ID program:
The BON defines on-call telephone services as “providing telephone services anytime of the day to handle non-urgent, urgent and emergent conditions an individual may experience; and making a telephone assessment and providing instructions to an unlicensed person over the phone regarding that condition.” The BON has determined LVNs providing on-call services to individuals in the ICF/ID program to be out of the LVN’s scope of practice. (Letter)
