Measurements
- Percent = [(# of infants and toddlers with IFSPs who receive the early intervention services on their Individudualized Family Services Plans (IFSP)s in a timely manner) divided by the (total # of infants and toddlers with IFSPs)] times 100.
- Account for untimely receipt of services, including the reasons for delays.
Measurable and Rigorous Target for FFY10/SFY11
That 100 percent of infants and toddlers with IFSPs will receive the early intervention services on their IFSP within 30 days.
Target Percentage and Data for FFY10/SFY11
Target: 100%
Actual: 94.06%
Total number of infants and toddlers with IFSPs = 18,814
Number of infants and toddlers with IFSPs who receive the early intervention services on their IFSPs in a timely manner = 17,696
Percent of infants and toddlers with IFSPs who receive the early intervention services on their IFSPs in a timely manner = 94.06%
Calculation used: [(17,696)/(18,814)] x 100
For this APR submission, data from the month of April have been utilized from the Service Delay Reporting System. A delay is identified whenever a child waits more than 30 days to receive the Early Intervention services listed on his/her IFSP. A time series evaluation of the data indicates that service delays vary in a pattern according to seasonality. For the first seven to eight months of the federal/state fiscal year, service delays tend to be lower and then increase annually in the spring which corresponds with an increase in the overall caseload which occurs during that same period. April has been selected as a representative data set, as it is in the middle of the normal caseload period.
The following table shows the statewide performance as well as each of the state's 25 CFC offices, as of April 2011. Statewide, 94.06% of children with IFSP have experienced no delays. Fifteen CFC offices had 95% or more of their cases with no delays, with one office showing no delays. Six CFC offices were between 90% and 95% of their active cases without delay, and four CFC offices had fewer than 90% of their active cases with no delays.
April 2011 Data
| CFC # & Name |
Net IFSPs |
# with No Delays |
% of No Delays |
| #1 ROCKFORD |
604 |
482 |
79.8% |
| #2 Lake Co. |
718 |
683 |
95.1% |
| #3 FREEPORT |
343 |
292 |
85.1% |
| #4 Kane-Kendall Co. |
898 |
870 |
96.9% |
| #5 DuPage Co. |
1,200 |
1,189 |
99.1% |
| #6 N Suburbs |
1,627 |
1,593 |
97.9% |
| #7 W Suburbs |
1,041 |
983 |
94.4% |
| #8 SW Chicago |
857 |
778 |
90.8% |
| #9 Central Chicago |
1,060 |
920 |
86.8% |
| #10 SE Chicago |
841 |
759 |
90.2% |
| #11 N Chicago |
2,510 |
2,272 |
90.5% |
| #12 S Suburbs |
1,161 |
1,140 |
98.2% |
| #13 MACOMB |
323 |
309 |
95.7% |
| #14 PEORIA |
507 |
477 |
94.1% |
| #15 JOLIET |
1,321 |
1,241 |
93.9% |
| #16 BLOOMINGTON |
644 |
621 |
96.4% |
| #17 QUINCY |
247 |
246 |
99.6% |
| #18 SPRINGFIELD |
296 |
285 |
96.3% |
| #19 DECATUR |
392 |
388 |
99.0% |
| #20 EFFINGHAM |
424 |
414 |
97.6% |
| #21 BELLEVILLE |
664 |
664 |
100.0% |
| #22 CENTRALIA |
363 |
351 |
96.7% |
| #23 NORRIS CITY |
207 |
200 |
96.6% |
| #24 CARBONDALE |
163 |
141 |
86.5% |
| #25 McHenry Co. |
403 |
398 |
98.8% |
| State |
18,814 |
17,696 |
94.06% |
| Cook County |
9,097 |
8,445 |
92.83% |
| Collar Counties |
4,540 |
4,381 |
96.50% |
| Downstate |
5,177 |
4,870 |
94.07% |
Discussion of Improvement Activities Completed and Explanation of Progress or Slippage that occurred for FFY10/SFY11
Overall, the percentage of children who receive early intervention services on their IFSPs in a timely manner, excluding delays for family reasons, increased from 93.96% in FFY09/FSY10 to 94.06% in FFY10/SFY11.
In FFY10/SFY11, fifteen CFC offices had more than 95% of open cases with no delays, which is an increase from FFY09/SFY10. One CFC reported 100% compliance.
Regionally, Cook County continued to decline from 93.38% for FFY09/SFY10 to 92.83% for FFY10/SFY11. Both Downstate and the Collar Counties (CFC offices 2, 4, 5, 15, and 25) improved increasing from 93.80% and 95.24% respectively in FFY09/SFY10 to 94.07% and 96.50% in FFY10/SFY11.
Service delays can be impacted by a number of factors leading to an improvement including:
- A reduction in payment delays to Early Intervention providers and
- An increase of service providers providing service in natural environments.
While Illinois' financial situation still results in delays of payments to EI service providers, these delays have decreased during FFY10/SFY11. Based on analysis of service delays in connection with the provider payment delays, there appears to be little correlation between the status of provider payments and the percentage of children receiving timely service. The biggest effect on service delays continues to be the size of the provider community, which is constantly changing as new providers enter and existing providers leave or modify their availability to provide services to enrolled children.
Improvement Activities & Status, Timelines, Resources
- Illinois will use a full 12 months of data for the identification of findings for Indicator 1 between 2011 and 2013.
- This was implemented for FFY10/SFY11 data (i.e., 12 months ending June 30, 2011) as part of the finding notification process and will continue as an ongoing strategy.
- Resources include the Bureau of Early Intervention and Performance Support Services.
- The EI Monitoring Program will increase the number of service coordinators it interviews as part of the onsite monitoring process for CFC offices. The EI Monitoring Program will also enhance interview questions to capture additional information about the IFSP decision-making process.
- The Bureau and its contractors who provide training, credentialing, monitoring, resource materials and billing/claims services will coordinate their efforts to work with professional associations and others that support the EI Program.
- Expand Program Integrity Pilot to include additional targeted CFC areas.
- During 2011, additional data will be provided to CFC offices so they can monitor service delays, address child-specific, and system issues in a timely way.
- In FFY2010/SFY2011, quarterly reports were provided to CFC offices so that they could monitor performance on Indicators 1, 7, and 8C. Resources include the Bureaus of Early Intervention and Performance Support Services.
Additional data will be provided to CFC offices so they can monitor service delays, address child-specific, and system issues in a timely way. In FFY2010/SFY2011, quarterly reports were provided to CFC offices so that they could monitor performance on Indicators 1, 7, and 8C.
Resources include the Bureaus of Early Intervention and Performance Support Services.
Other improvement activities:
- A new monthly service delay reporting system was piloted in FFY10/SFY11 and rolled out statewide in August 2011. This system allows CFC offices to identify new children for whom services are delayed, including the delay reason; report on unresolved cases; and make data corrections. An unresolved case list is provided to the CFC offices and is updated as part of this monthly report.
- An AT workgroup has reviewed the AT request, approval and provision processes in Illinois' EI Program and is developing recommendations to streamline them.
- The Service Delay workgroup developed Integrated Services Approach Guidelines and monitored the activity of a pilot project. The workgroup also discussed provider recruitment strategies, including strategies for posting unmet service needs.
- The Service Delivery Approaches workgroup has begun to examine/investigate approaches to Early Intervention service delivery that facilitate teaming and communication and consider recommendations for adopting a service delivery approach for early intervention services in Illinois.
- On March 18, 2011, CFC office staff participated in a webinar on how to search and generate reports from the IL Department of Children and Family Services' Provider Database, which contains statewide information on over 50 types of services, such as counseling, case management, mentoring, tutoring, etc. Information needed for families to access services, such eligibility requirements, hours of operation, contact information, and locations are included in the database. User names were issued to EI service coordinators so that they may begin using the database to help identify community resources for families in Early Intervention.
Correction of FFY09/SFY10 Findings of Noncompliance (if State reported less than 100% compliance):
Level of compliance (actual target data) State reported for FFY 2009 for this indicator: 93.96%
