October 3, 2019 - Illinois Interagency Council on Early Intervention

Audience

Open to the general public.

Time

10:00 am to 1:00 pm

Location

Illinois Primary Healthcare Association
500 South Ninth Street - 2nd Floor
Springfield, Illinois

Agenda

  • Call to Order
  • Introduction of Council Members
  • Approval of July 11, 2019 Draft Meeting Report
  • Homeless Presentation
  • Transition of Council Members
  • Lead Poisoning Eligibility Workgroup Update
  • Early Intervention/Home Visiting Convening Update
  • Tele-Practice Workgroup Update
  • Prenatal to 3 Initiative
  • Ongoing Updates
    • Budget - Survey
    • IMPACT-Ordering/Referring Physician (ORP) National Provider Identifier (NPI)
    • Cornerstone
    • Bureau
    • Digital Signatures
    • Service Delivery Approaches (SDA) Workgroup Recommendations
  • Annual Local Interagency Council (LIC) Summary Report
  • Service Delay Data Analysis
  • Approval of 2020 Council Meeting Dates
  • Adjournment of Meeting

Council Report

Attended

  • Michelle Baldock, IL Dept. of Insurance
  • Karen Berman, Ounce of Prevention Fund, Advocate Representative
  • Meghan Burke, Parent Representative
  • Bob Cammarata, ICG Health Care Services, Provider Representative
  • Fran Collins, IDHS, Division of Developmental Disabilities
  • Benny Delgado, Leaps and Bounds Family Services, Inc., Provider Representative
  • Ann Freiburg, IDHS, Bureau of Early Intervention
  • Margaret Harkness, IL Council on Developmental Disabilities
  • Nakisha Hobbs, IDHS, Div. of Early Childhood - Represented by Kisha Davis
  • Dee Dee Lowery, Child & Family Connections (CFC) 1 Program Manager
  • Ginger Mullin, IL Dept. of Public Health
  • Rosie Perez, Parent Representative
  • Kathy Schrock, Easter Seals DuPage & Fox Valley
  • Ralph Schubert, IL Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC)
  • Amy Zimmerman, Legal Council for Health Justice, Advocate Representative

Excused

  • Teresa Bertolozzi, Parent Representative
  • Kelly Cunningham, IL Dept. of Healthcare & Family Services
  • Kristy Doan, IL State Board of Education
  • Melissa Ehmann, Parent Representative
  • Donna Emmons, Head Start Representative
  • Vicki Hodges, ISBE, McKinney-Vento Homeless
  • Lori Orr, Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development
  • Lynette Strode, IL Assistive Technology Program, Provider Representative
  • Becca Trevino, Parent Representative
  • Rita Wahl, CFC 20 Program Manager
  • Angel Williams, IL Dept. of Child and Family Services
  • Constance Williams, Ph.D., IDHS, Division of Mental Health

Council Packet

  • Agenda
  • Draft Council Meeting Report-July 11, 2019 Meeting
  • Lead Poisoning Eligibility Workgroup Update
  • Early Intervention/Home Visiting Convening Update
  • Tele-Practice Workgroup Update
  • Illinois Prenatal to Three Initiative
  • Service Delivery Approaches (SDA) Workgroup Recommendations
  • Early Intervention Program Caseload Summary Report
  • SFY2019 Local Interagency Council Annual Report Summary
  • Draft 2020 Council Meeting Dates

1) Call to Order

Kathy Schrock, Illinois Interagency Council on Early Intervention Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 10:05am.

2) Introductions of Council Members

Members introduced themselves and stated their agency/role on the Council.

3) Approval of the July 11, 2019 Draft Meeting Report

Amy Zimmerman moved to approve the report with few corrections. Benny Delgado seconded. Amy requested a correction to item four Lead Poisoning Workgroup Update, first paragraph. It should read while 27 families are currently receiving EI services only 12 are actively in the pilot. Amy also reported correction to item four, second paragraph first sentence should read the majority of referrals to the pilot are coming from Public Health. Benny Delgado reported a correction to item five first paragraph. Sentence should read Benny shared a story about working with a family where child had feeding issues. Kathy inquired the Council for any other corrections or clarifications. Meeting Report was approved.

4) Homeless Presentation

Ann Freiburg reported that due to Vicki Hodges' absence the Homeless Presentation will be postponed until the January Council meeting.

5) Transition of Council Members

Ann reports the Governor's office has verbally approved Brenda Devito as the new Council Chairperson. Kathy Schrock had requested to step down as Council Chair and this will be her last official meeting. The Governor's Office is in the process of reviewing applications of individuals desiring to serve on Boards and Commissions and is reviewing expired term appointments. She asked Council members to continue to serve in their current capacity as the Governor's Office has not officially appointed anyone to these expired positions. Ann welcomes workgroup members to continue serving in a non-Council member capacity and pointed out she appreciates the expertise that the members bring to the workgroups. If your position is affected, Ann will personally reach out to you as soon as possible. Karen Berman suggested the creation of a workgroup of Council members to help consider the terms and progress of the Council and workgroups. Amy Zimmerman supports creation of a transition workgroup with the intention to dialogue with the Governor's Office regarding maintaining the integrity of the work, historical knowledge, and continuity of the Council. Amy asked if there are any current Council vacancies. Jenni Grissom responded there are two parent vacancies and two provider vacancies. Kathy Schrock announced she has been in EI for 45 years. She reflected on the history of Early Intervention and the progress EI has accomplished. She offered words of wisdom to keep true to our mission and principles. She thanked the Council for allowing her to serve.

6) Lead Poisoning Eligibility Workgroup Update

Amy Zimmerman reports due to recent successful legislation, beginning in July 2020, the Early Intervention Program will be able to provide automatic eligibility to children with elevated blood lead levels of 5 and above, which is the state level of concern as well as the CDC level of concern. Amy commends the Bureau and CFCs 1, 7, and 9 during the pre-rollout period for work on finalizing service guidelines document, making sure proper training opportunities are provided to: Early Interventionists, CFCs, providers, medical provider community, and the public health community. The CFCs have agreed to continue to accept referrals and the referrals can now include children birth to three and will include the entire CFC service area. Amy reports the Illinois Developmental Therapy Association (IDTA) Workgroup pilot participants all provided service guideline feedback via survey process that our research partner Erickson Institute developed. The feedback that was received is being incorporated into the service guidelines. Amy adds that improvements can continue to be made prior to and after statewide rollout. That document will be made available by the end of October. Early Intervention Training Program will be offering a webinar in February. Amy shared information regarding a training held at the DTA statewide Training Conference. Amy shared preliminary numbers from the pilot. She continues to dialogue with Pam Eply, a professor with Erickson Institute as additional data becomes available.

Amy comments that the Bureau of EI and the Council need to work on rulemaking with regards to the automatic eligibility and her aim is to have proposed rules introduced by January. Ann Freiburg states she took language from the statue and has submitted it to her supervisor. Amy asked that the Council be allowed to view the rules before release to the public.

Bob Cammarata asked for clarification regarding the two standards of the blood tests used for automatic EI eligibility. Amy explained that with regards to automatic eligibility, EI has adopted into statute the Department of Public Health definition of elevated blood lead level-confirmed blood lead result of five micrograms per deciliter or higher. She added confirmed result means there is a venous blood draw. She states many children receive a finger pin prick capillary draw and because there are false negative opportunities with the capillary draw, Early Intervention requires a venous blood draw for confirmation of elevated blood lead level. Amy responded to Meghan Burke's question regarding explanation of parents who could not be contacted. Amy said it is her understanding that the CFCs try to contact the parents by phone and if they don't make contact, they send a letter. Rosie Perez asked if the blood lead test was mandatory for providers. Amy responded the testing is mandatory for children receiving Medicaid/All Kids and children residing in high risk zip codes at 12 and 24 months. Amy adds the city of Chicago is considered high risk area and all children should be tested at 12 and 24 months. Ginger Mullin states Illinois Department of Public Health follows CDC guidelines in categorizing their parent contact data. Kisha Davis asked if we have a breakdown on the data of the not interested category results: race, ethnicity, where they live. Her concern is the low percentage of African American children receiving EI services. Kisha added the Child Care Assistance Program is reaching out to the public to bring awareness about the importance of Early intervention services as well as Child Care Assistance Program. Karen Berman added she appreciates the DHS public awareness campaign. Kisha brought attention to the DHS CCAP Facebook page that was launched August 1, 2019. Kisha notes CCAP sends out a monthly policy memo and EI information could be included in the memo.

7)  Early Intervention/Home Visiting Convening Update

Benny Delgado reports the workgroup has reviewed the CFC Procedure Handbook and EI Principles, the Illinois EI Provider Manual, IFSP Document, Guide for Families, and Professional Development opportunities and materials. The group thinks it is important to be much more specific about the type of support services programs that are offered. Language was added to include a referral system when children were not eligible for EI but would benefit from another program such as Home Visiting. The group identified transition as an area needing attention. Benny will be sharing the recommended changes to the Council and the Bureau. He requests feedback and additions be returned to him before the next Council meeting. Benny discussed the document in the packet regarding current EI principles and recommended updated principles. He requests you review this document before the next Council meeting. Kathy thanked Benny for the presentation and noted the discussion regarding the recommended updates will be added to the agenda for the next Council meeting. Karen expressed concern regarding the timeliness of making changes to the procedure manual. Ann responded there is no due date for the changes. Bob asked if Home Visiting completed an updated bidding process to address coverage and uniformity across the state. Karen responded with regards to the coordination and collaboration of Home Visiting and Early Intervention the assumption is where there is a CFC office in a community there is also Home Visiting Services and adds we don't have capacity to serve all families that would be eligible for Home Visiting. She brought attention to the IGROW Home Visiting website. She notes there is a workgroup focusing on scaling up coordinated intake just for Home Visiting allowing for an easier referral process.

8)  Tele-Practice Workgroup Update

Bob Cammarata reports the Telehealth workgroup held a phone conference last month that included a presentation by Meghan Burke, parent representative. Bob invited Meghan to share the highlights of her presentation with the Council. Meghan shared she worked with EI Clearinghouse to hold focus groups throughout the state to review parent perception of Telehealth. Meghan brought attention to the Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse document included in the Council packet. Meghan reports feedback from families reveal they preferred in person therapy to Telehealth but said if in person therapy wasn't available, they would accept Telehealth. Bob said he believes they are ready to move forward to formation of the pilot. The workgroup has been reviewing acceptable practices regarding HIPAA, FERPA, and consent forms. He said Benny's office has been reviewing electronic platform options and related costs. Amy Zimmerman recommended a conversation at the federal level to find out what requirements they would have for the pilot. She mentioned Early Intervention funds would be required for reimbursement. Kathy notes other states are doing Telehealth. Ann Freiburg commented that Telehealth is a program under Part C and she has been reaching out to other states to gather information regarding barriers and successes. Karen Berman raised a concern regarding Medicaid billing. She asked how the pilot would proceed if the Medicaid reimbursement plan wasn't approved and how would you extend the program statewide without the Medicaid approval. Ann states we could do the pilot but EI would have to pay for it. Michelle Baldock noted diabetic Telehealth was added for senior citizens in January. Kathy said she believes we have enough information to move forward with a purposed rollout of the pilot. She said we need to identify the key pieces, select a small group of providers to take the training. She recommends twenty-five providers pilot this over the course of three to six months. Kathy asked Bob if he would be able to identify and present to Ann how to roll out the pilot. He will try and have a proposed rollout ready to present at the January meeting. Amy recommended having EI Billing representative involved. Bob said Benny will be holding a discussion after today's meeting with the Telehealth Workgroup and anyone else interested to discuss the electronic platforms for Telehealth.

9)  Prenatal to Three Initiative

Karen reviewed the Illinois Prenatal to Three (PN3) one-page overview in the Council packet. The PN3 Initiative is the name for Illinois' opportunity to participate in a parallel process to the Pritzker Children Initiative (PCI). PCI supports states to develop a strategic policy agenda and implementation plan focused on prioritizing the expansion of high-quality services to low-income infants and toddlers and their families, beginning prenatal to three to get them on track for school success by age three. While Illinois could not be funded directly by PCI, Illinois will be able to engage in all the technical assistance and peer learning opportunities available. Due to the generosity of Irving Harris, McCormick, and Stone foundations, Illinois is being invited to create a plan alongside our peer states. The other states that are involved submit their plans back to the foundation and they have a selection process to move on to the next phase in which they are eligible for between one million to three million dollars to advance their implementation plan. These funds are not to fund their services, but rather to help build the infrastructure to advance the plan. Karen brought attention to the Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development website and notes the PN3 resources are available for review at this site. Illinois has established a coalition team of ninety members that forms the policy agenda for our state and the team has identified six topic areas as a state that are requirements for our policy agenda. There will be two large coalition meetings held October 16, 2019 and November 12, 2019. The deadline to finish is January 2020. The goal is to have the plan ready by December 2019. Karen invites individuals who want more information or to get involved to contact her.

10) Service Delay

Karen Berman reports she strongly feels we have the strategies and leadership to eliminate waiting lists in the next five years. She states Telehealth will be a strategy for some families. She notes in some areas there are plenty of providers, but these providers are choosing not to serve these families and a strategy is needed to address that.

11)  Ongoing Updates

a) Budget

 Ann Freiburg states surveys went out to CFCs regarding the rate increase. We are finalizing the surveys that will go out to providers. Ann anticipates the provider survey to go out next week. The survey will be posted to the Provider Connections website.

b) Illinois Medicaid Program Advanced Cloud Technology

 Ann states progress is on hold. A recent IMPACT audit identified a necessity of a written intergovernmental agreement. Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services will be writing the IGA. The most recent update to the ORP/NPI can be found on the Provider Connections Web Page News Feed. Ann and Heather Hofferkamp will be attending a meeting with Healthcare and Family Services next week and Ann anticipates more information regarding future growth of IMPACT.

c) Cornerstone

Ann Freiburg reports the draft Request for Proposal has been sent to procurement for the new data system. The current data system will not be turned off; however, it will be considered a non-supported system. No improvements will be completed on the current system. WIC has carried the cost of Cornerstone for the last several years. Karen Berman discussed the need to plan for the increased cost to EI to support the new data system as well as the yearly maintenance/ administrative cost. Karen asked how much the anticipatory cost of the data system and the yearly maintenance will be. Ann responded she is waiting for feedback from Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology. Ann reports she has checked with other states and has not received solid estimates to system replacements as most of these states do updates to their systems themselves. Karen notes approximately ten years ago there was a task force that gathered information from multiple vendors regarding cost of a new data system and at that time the cost would be four to five million to purchase the system and an additional five hundred thousand to sustain it yearly. She added budgetary planning for reduction of the waiting list as well as professional development for providers will need to be included. Amy Zimmerman asked if EI requested a certain dollar amount to cover the budget. Ann responded she tells them what her needs are. Amy asked if automatic eligibility for elevated blood lead levels was included in budgetary planning. Ann responded they are aware of that as well.

d) Bureau

 Ann reports Bureau Grants Manager, Fiscal staff member, and Administrative Assistant I positions have not yet been filled. She is thrilled to announce she was approved to hire an additional Fiscal staff member. As of this week, payments have been made through August and all CFCs are paid through July. Ann has submitted for approval, to hire an additional five Bureau staff members to increase the total head count to 17.

e) Digital Signatures

 No updates on digital signatures

f) Service Delivery Approaches Workgroup Recommendations

 Report included in packet

11) Annual Local Interagency Council (LIC) Summary Report

Kathy Schrock states the summary report is included in the Council packet and requests you contact Ann Freiburg if you have questions.

Approval of 2020 Council Meeting Dates

  • January 9, 2020 - TBD
  • April 2, 2020 - Illinois Primary Healthcare Association, 500 S. 9th St., Springfield, Illinois
  • July 9, 2020 - TBD
  • October 1, 2020 - Illinois Primary Healthcare Association, 500 S. 9th St., Springfield, Illinois

All meetings are scheduled from 10am to 1pm.

13) Adjournment

 The meeting adjourned at 1:00pm.

Contact Information

Jenni Grissom
IDHS - Bureau of Early Intervention
823 East Monroe St.
Springfield, IL 62701

Ph: 217/524-1596

Email: jennifer.grissom@illinois.gov

If you are need of special accommodations, please email or call Jenni Grissom.