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Showing posts from February, 2011

Dismantling the Early Intervention and Special Education Program through back door Medicaid regulation

I have recently blogged about the State Plan Amendment that involved a $540 million settlement paid from NY State to the federal government because of Medicaid fraud. In the wake of the settlement, the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General has developed guidelines that municipalities are trying to understand, and in turn these guidelines are trying to be followed by local school districts and providers. The current street level problem is that documentation requirements for services are being applied retroactively - and that causes even greater amounts of ineligible billing. In a mad rush to understand and comply with new requirements (I am hesitant to call them rules or guidelines) the locals are desperately looking for guidance on how they are supposed to provide services, document services, and bill for services. Inspired people (like me) went to more than one training session and were shocked to find out that there were inconsistencies between the information that was prese...

The rocky start to my pediatric injury prevention career

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I don't frequently blog about my interest in pediatric injury prevention because our Facebook page is a much more convenient way to share information and messages about that topic. Today I thought I would tell a quick story about one of the driving events that got me thinking about injury prevention. The thought was prompted by a story on one of my favorite websites, www.safekids.org. They have a feature on furniture tipovers that reminded me of an incident that happened to my son when I was a brand new parent over 20 years ago. My son was nearly three years old and a very active toddler. I was watching him play in the fenced in back yard and he had his little toys, the family dog, and a toddler sized slide to keep him busy. It was a safe environment, I thought. He managed to fall off the toddler slide and immediately began crying that his leg was broken. Knowing that toddlers are frequently right when they use this language, I splinted his lower leg and rushed him to the hosp...

Narrative perspectives on adolescents who have autism spectrum diagnoses

I read an article the other day that gave a lot of statistics about how teenagers who have autism spectrum disorders receive significantly less case management services, therapy, and medical care after they leave high school. That does not surprise me. Then earlier today a colleague was asking about interpretive phenomenology. That made me think I should write down this story. It gives a different perspective on the problem that moves a little beyond the statistics in the article referenced below. ___________________________________ Cindy's mom called the other day, and I was pretty certain she was calling about concerns with her young preschooler - who is 4 years old and has PDD-NOS. I evaluated Cindy about a year ago and helped the family engage their local school system for services. Instead she was calling about Emily - and I recalled that she told me about an older daughter who also has an autism spectrum diagnosis. Her older daughter graduated from high school last yea...

NY State Early Intervention Program Changes Proposed in 2011-2012 Budget

Here is information from Governor Cuomo's 2011-2012 proposed budget. You can find supporting documents and presentation at http://publications.budget.state.ny.us/eBudget1112/fy1112littlebook/index.html I have BOLDED the proposed budget information and italicized my own comments: Several changes are suggested for the early intervention program that provides services to children aged 0-3 who have qualifying conditions or developmental delays. • Recalibrate Early Intervention Rates. To make the cost of Early Intervention more affordable, a variety of changes will be made to payments for Early Intervention providers. These include the following: - Rate Reductions of 10 percent for Early Intervention. A 10 percent across the board rate reduction will be applied to all Early Intervention service rates. (2011-12 Value: $11.1 million; 2012-13 Value: $24.3 million) n.b. a 10% rate cut was enacted LAST YEAR. It will be interesting to see if the lower reimbursement rate drives providers...