Audience
Open to the general public.
Time
10:00 am to 1:00 pm
Location
Moraine Valley Community College
9000 College Parkway, Building M
Palos Hills, Illinois
Agenda
- Introduction of Council Members
- New Council Member Appointment
- Approval of April 7, 2016 Draft Meeting Report
- Council Mentorship Kathy Schrock
- State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP)
- Ongoing Updates Ann Freiburg
- IMPACT
- Service Delivery Approaches (SDA)
- Workgroup Recommendations
- Cornerstone
- Parent Reimbursements
- Bureau Update
- Budget Update
- Illinois Early Childhood Inclusion Summit
- Adjournment of Council Meeting
Break
NEW COUNCIL MEMBER ORIENTATION/ALL COUNCIL RETREAT
12:15pm to 3pm
Working Lunch
- Purpose of the Meeting
- What will you learn today?
- Definition and Purpose of Council
- Introductions of Council Members
- Name, type of representative
- Why did you agree to be on the council?
- Why is EI important to you?
- Handout Review
- EI Principles Exercise
- Did you do your homework?
- Meet the EI Partners
- Putting the Pieces Together
- Training
- Requirements of Meetings and Boards/Councils
- Questions/Answers
Meeting Report
Present
J. Diane Adams-Alsberry, CALM, Inc.
Bob Cammarata, ICG Health Care Services
Gerri Clark, Division of Specialized Care for Children
Annmarie Skallerup , IL Dept. of Insurance
Benny Delgado, Leaps and Bounds Family Services, Inc.
Brenda DeVito, CFC 6 Program Manager
Ann Freiburg, Part C Coordinator, DHS, Bureau of Early Intervention
Margaret Harkness, IL Council on Developmental Disabilities
Roselyn Harris, DHS, Bureau of Child Care & Development
Vicki Hodges, ISBE, McKinney-Vento
Patricia Hooper, Parent
Ginger Mullin, IL Dept. of Public Health
Brandy O'Connor, Parent
Rosalina Perez, Parent
Kristin Doan, IL State Board of Education
Kathy Schrock, Easter Seals DuPage & Fox Valley
Lynette Strode, Illinois Assistive Technology Program
Therese Wehman, Elmhurst College
Angel Williams, IL Dept. of Child and Family Services
Absent
Karen Berman, Ounce of Prevention Fund
Teresa Bertolozzi, Parent
Shauna Ejeh, Illinois Head Start Collaboration Office
Kelley Washington, IL Early Learning Council
Deanna Pratscher, Parent
Rita Wahl, CFC 20 Program Manager
Kathy Ward, DHS, Division of Developmental Disabilities
Constance Williams, Ph.D., DHS, Division of Mental Health
Amy Zimmerman, Health & Disabilities Advocates
Council Packet
- Agenda
- Draft Council Report from April 7, 2016
- State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP)
- Overview of Illinois Early Childhood Inclusion Summit
- Early Intervention Program Caseload Summary Report
- Council Member Handbook
Call to Order
The Illinois Interagency Council on Early Intervention (IICEI) convened at 10:05 am.
Council Member Introductions
Kathy asked all members to introduce themselves.
New Council Member Appointment
Claudia reviewed which new members have been added since the last meeting and announced that we now have a full Council.
Approval of April 2016 Draft Meeting Report
Diane made a motion to approve the meeting report; Bob seconded. Motion was approved. One correction will be made to reflect that at the last meeting, it was January's meeting report that was reviewed, not October's.
Council Mentorship
Kathy explained the importance of pairing new members with members who have been involved longer. She hopes that doing this will help orient new members and provide the support needed to ensure an engaged group. Council members have paired up.
State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) Update
Claudia shared information about the SSIP. We are now in Phase 3. On March 30th, we submitted our Phase 2 plan which included ideas for implementation and evaluation. We recently received feedback from OSEP about our submission. The reviewer felt it was a well-considered and practical plan. She liked the revision of the TOA and how it aligned with our strategies. She encouraged us to think about secondary data sources since a change in the SiMR will be longer term and we will need to report on what we are doing as the plan progresses. She encouraged continued communication with stakeholders. TA centers will be developing resources to guide our Phase 3 reporting.
We have already begun Phase 3 work. We are working with system partners, including the Innovation Zones and the accompanying CFCs. Also continue to utilize input from the larger SSIP stakeholder group (now has at least 30 people). Have recruited Rob Corso to help us with evaluation efforts as this was an area of expertise that the group was missing. We have 3 subgroups of the evaluation team- leadership teams, PD/TA, and performance support. Bureau staff have been visiting the Innovation Zones. We have also sent a survey to the larger SSIP group to help with the selection of the EBPs that will be the target of our work around family engagement. Also crafting evaluation tools to measure implementation and related IMPACT. OSEP consistently focuses on the importance of using this evaluation to inform and/or revise our next steps.
Roslyn asked about how we plan to use measures to evaluate implementation. Claudia provided some examples of things being considered, e.g. surveys, checklists, and existing tools, as final decisions have not yet been made. This is a current focus of the evaluation team's work. Ann reminded everyone that we also have access to national TA representatives to help us with this work. Bob would like to hear more as we move along about our selection of secondary data sources. Benny felt that the quarterly summary was very useful and wondered about opportunities for the broader provider community to learn about SSIP activities and to communicate with stakeholder group. Since our initial work will be in three Innovation Zones, the providers in those areas are the current focus of our discussions, but we are still working to figure out how to ensure the larger provider pool communication. Brenda asked how the leadership teams are being formed and who is determining their selection. Claudia said that no teams are formed yet as the guidance for the CFCs to use to develop these teams is still being created. Evaluation team is meeting for a full day on August 1st so we will likely have more information about these teams after that. Have also begun initial discussion about how to orient the leadership teams once the selection has occurred.
Ongoing Updates
a) IMPACT:
Ann reminded everyone that all Illinois providers will need to enroll in this system. Enrollment in this system will allow EI to claim the Medicaid match for eligible children. Ann has worked with IMPACT to try to make language clearer for EI providers. More than 300 providers have made it through the process so far. Those who are in phase 1 revalidation need to have their applications completed by 07/31/16. This system was created with the larger Medicaid community in mind rather than just EI.
Therese asked about how people find out whether or not they are approved, or have moved through the system effectively. Ann has explained the difficulty with the process since there is a two part process, the Provider Connections piece and the IMPACT piece. She has been working on trying to align the pieces. Ann is working with Provider Connections to develop a process and a letter that she hopes can go out to the EI providers who are enrolled but who have some pieces incorrect. Therese wants to know how long after this correction occurs it will be before the provider is approved. Ann doesn't have a definitive answer on this because there are so many different scenarios.
Brenda asked about IMPACT with EI authorizations. Ann says what will happen after September date is unclear. Though a lack of IMPACT enrollment won't affect their ability to provide EI services, but it will affect the DHS effort to claim reimbursement for the services that that provider has given to Medicaid eligible children.
Provider Connections reports that things are moving through much more quickly now. Biggest errors have been in regard to correct selection of "provider type". Therese suggested putting something out for providers to help them address or avoid the most commonly made mistakes. Benny said that the webinars that were originally posted were quite helpful. Benny suggested working on a video that could walk people through a sample enrollment. Ann said that a manual with screenshots is under development. Ann reminded people that there is a work around for individuals who were just switching employers. Brenda asked about current EI providers who didn't do enrollment correctly and what will happen to them. Ann says this is uncertain at this time, but that is the group whom the letter will be sent to so that they can correct their IMPACT applications to associate with EI. Bob shared how difficult it has been to recruit new providers during this initial phase of IMPACT. He fears that we are losing potential providers that will now go to other service systems. Kathy expressed her appreciation for the work that Ann and her team have invested in this.
b) Service Delivery Approaches (SDA) Workgroup Recommendations Update
Ann provided a summary sheet with all 18 recommendations and their status. She will send it out to all the Council members. The SSIP has provided the opportunity to implement many of these suggestions. The struggle with providing a clear graphic has been in determining whether people want to focus on the overall recommendations and/or the implementation steps suggested by the workgroup. It won't always be necessary to do all the steps in order to achieve the recommendations. There may also be times when steps can be achieved, but the recommendation, as a whole, may not be accomplished as written. Brenda asked if the overall report has been posted yet. Ann shared that posting it is still on her to do list.
Angel asked about the item related to developmental screening during intake for EI. Ann clarified that the current federal language permits, but does not require, this screening. It needs to occur within the initial 45 day period. One CFC has contacted Ann about piloting this opportunity. Ann just received feedback from OSEP about how to proceed since our current materials say that all referrals proceed directly to evaluation and/or assessment. Angel was wondering if the process currently utilized by the DCFS regional team in Cook County might be the model for screening being considered. She has seen some of the struggles for children with the lack of availability of those teams in other areas of the state. Ann said that what is learned from other systems and from the pilot experience will inform future decisions. Kathy asked for more time to review the document before providing meaningful feedback to Ann about future reports. Ann said that she is fine continuing to take suggestions after people have had more time to review.
Therese reminded everyone that the recommendations were intended to be viewed as a whole, since each piece of the system is so intimately linked to all the other pieces. Therese called attention to recommendation 6 about evaluation/assessment and noted that the requirement for a norm-referenced tool to be used for eligibility has not been implemented. She also called attention to recommendation 9 and the missing adherence to transdisciplinary teams. She is concerned that this will undermine many of the other recommendations. Therese is unclear why "subject matter experts" are required for beginning Recommendation 11 because those experts were already part of the workgroup. Ann clarified that to move forward with this recommendation; she would need to have a reminder about the conversations that had occurred to make sure this was being addressed as recommended. Recommendation 12 asks for financial support for teaming time and Therese doesn't feel that consistent teaming will occur until we can create a requirement for teaming and allocate the required funding.
Kathy reflected that not all the pieces are likely to change at once, so she is considering these pieces as steps toward the overall change. Therese said that we should not just focus on the "easy" pieces because we are going to have to embrace the big items to move the overall system forward. Brenda shared her appreciation for the movement that has already been made and that she views these steps as progress. Benny says that he would like to think about how the Council can support the Bureau with moving these recommendations forward. Brandy asked for more information on recommendation 13 and wondered if the electronic IFSP will eventually be accessible by families. Ann said that this is the ultimate vision, but it is not a short-term item. Brandy also asked about family involvement in the statewide transition committee. She feels that parent to parent connections can be critically important during transition.
Several Council members shared that knowing how the Bureau is prioritizing items for different phases could be helpful to share. Kathy would like to continue the discussion about progress reporting.
c) Cornerstone Updates
Working on some improvements related to child outcomes. Hoping that the next release will be out soon. Ann reminded people that Cornerstone is a program that is shared across multiple programs. Right now WIC has some compliance needs that are taking priority, so some of our other proposed changes will take longer to be addressed.
d) Parent Reimbursement Recommendation
Ann reminded people that the proposal was an attempt to address service delays. Ann doesn't feel that the proposed process will be consistent with what we are trying to accomplish in EI right now. It will be difficult to uphold EI philosophy within this proposal and IMPACT changes are another barrier that would be immediately encountered. Brenda suggested that this information be shared again at the next meeting so that Karen and Amy could be part of the discussion.
e) Bureau Update
No new staff information right now.
f) Budget Update
Legislature passed a stop gap budget. This doesn't really change our circumstances since we were paying based on a court order. Ann's understanding is that payments can continue in this way until a full budget is passed. We have received notification that we will get our federal funding. We also have a backlog from Medicaid that they are hoping will ease the payment slowdown that typically occurs at the beginning of the fiscal year.
Inclusion Summit
Margie Harkness, from ICDD, reported on ICDD's support of the Award of Excellence for Inclusion. Given what they have learned through this process, they felt it would be important to convene stakeholders during an Inclusion Summit. This group would help with cross-system thinking about inclusion. They are currently looking for people to be involved in this effort. She invited IICEI members to be sponsors for this event. They would like to do a scan of IL programs relative to the federal policy statement, including funding and program requirements. Going back to federal leads to get more examples from other states. Surveys and other information gathering efforts will likely occur prior to the event. She encouraged everyone to look for the announcement. Event will likely occur in late February/early March.
Margie asked if IICEI would be willing to be listed as a "sponsor", which essentially means that this is a group that is behind the inclusion effort. Bob made a motion that the IICEI serve as a sponsor, Brenda seconded. Kathy began discussion by clarifying that no monetary support is needed from sponsors. She also asked what role Council members could play in the development of the summit. Margie said that this participation would be welcome, but not required. Council email listing could be used to keep members abreast of progress. Ginger asked about family involvement in the planning at this point. Margie said that this is part of the groundwork that is currently being explored. The motion carried.
Recognition of Gerri Clark's service to the IICEI
Kathy announced that Gerri will be leaving the Council after 16 years due to retiring. Kathy provided a plaque as a token of appreciation.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 12:06. Benny made a motion to adjourn. Diane seconded.
Contact Information
Jenni Grissom
IDHS - Bureau of Early Intervention
823 East Monroe
Springfield, IL 62701
Ph: 217/524-1596
email: jennifer.grissom@illinois.gov