Program Providers and Local Authorities No Longer Need to Request Backdating of an Overdue Renewal Individual Plan of Care
Information Letter 14-54 informs Home and Community-based Services (HCS) and Texas Home Living (TxHmL) program providers, Local Authorities (LAs), and Financial Management Services Agencies (FMSAs) that the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) is implementing a functional change in the Client Assignment and REgistration (CARE) system. With this change, a program provider or LA no longer need to submit a request to backdate a renewal Individual Plan of Care (IPC) to DADS when data entering an overdue renewal IPC.
Currently, when a program provider or LA enters a renewal IPC into CARE for an expired IPC, CARE is programmed to pre-fill the “IPC Begin Date” field with the current date (the date of the data entry). This event results in a gap in IPC authorization dates in CARE when the renewal IPC is entered after the current IPC expires. In such cases, the program provider or LA may request DADS backdate the renewal IPC in CARE. Upon receipt of this request, DADS backdates the IPC.
As of September 1, 2014, this process will become automated in the CARE system. If a program provider or LA enters a renewal IPC into CARE for an expired IPC and the IPC has not been expired for 180 days or longer, CARE will automatically pre-fill the “IPC Begin Date” field with the date following the day the previous IPC expired. This change in CARE functionality will result in no gap in IPC authorization dates for the IPC. After implementation of this change, the process of submitting a request to backdate a renewal IPC will no longer be needed unless the individual’s IPC has been expired for 180 days or longer.
It is important to note current timeframe requirements for renewing IPCs are still applicable. An individual’s IPC must be renewed at least annually and before expiration of the individual’s IPC in accordance with Title 40, Texas Administrative Code (TAC), § 9.166 (HCS) and § 9.568 (TxHmL).
