Electronic Visit Verification is coming to Oregon, and it will change the way that 10,000 Personal Support Workers and as many Direct Support Professionals start and end their work shifts for attendant-care services in a person’s home. What Is EVV? The 21st Century CURES Act was adopted by the federal government in 2016 to reduce Medicaid fraud. Because this is a federal bill, every state is now working to meet the January 2019 deadline to implement Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) for in-home attendant care services. In order to meet the federal standards, Oregon’s EVV system will have to capture the following points of information for each and...
Read MoreOn Tuesday, Oregon Support Services Association’s Executive Director Katie Rose testified to a Senate committee regarding the state’s roll out and implementation of its payment system, eXPRS. Additional testimony was provided by Margaret Theisen (CEO of the state’s largest brokerage Full Access), Chris Burnett (Executive Director of Oregon Rehabilitation Association,) Gary Zenzen and Chris Schwartz (from provider organization Partnerships in Community Living,) Lilia Teninty (Director of Oregon’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Program,) and Don Erickson (Chief Operating Officer for Oregon’s Aging, Disability, and Developmental...
Read MoreLate Friday afternoon (05.30.2014), Interim DD Director Trisha Baxter released the following statement to the I/DD community: “As you are aware we have many priorities that we are focusing on, all with a July 1 implementation date. We have heard from many of you that these converging priorities are causing angst, stress and strain on you, and on the system. We, as well, are discovering the complexities of handling so many moving parts all at once. As such, based upon feedback from many of you and weighing our internal priorities and commitments with SEIU, CMS and others, we have come up with the following strategy to delay portions of the work and to stage...
Read MoreOn May 9, 2014, during a monthly meeting with brokerage directors, ODDS staff shared potential rate decreases to providers of Supported Employment and Day Habilitation (ATE programs). The proposed reduction would occur across the comprehensive and brokerage systems and go live as early as July 1st, 2014. Last week, the Oregon Support Services Association, the Oregon I/DD Coalition, the Oregon Rehabilitation Association and the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities each submitted letters to state leadership asking the state to reconsider any rate reductions. We all await responses and will update you once we have additional information on the direction the state...
Read MoreDear Providers, Yesterday, newly-appointed ODDS Interim Director Trisha Baxter announced that Oregon is putting the brakes on its move to centralize payment to providers of brokerage services. The new target date for the change is July 1st, 2014, pending agreement between the State and SEIU. For quite some time, there has been great concern amongst brokerages, providers, and customers regarding what has been a rather rocky implementation process. Payment to our essential provider base must be top priority for our community and system. We applaud ODDS’ move to delay for solid planning and pledge to work with the Department on development of a thoughtful and thorough...
Read MoreDear Providers,There continues to be a lack of timelines and details regarding the State’s move to take over payment to providers of brokerage services.Representatives from the Office of Developmental Disabilities Services promise there’s continued work on a solid plan, but as of right now they have produced no clear plans or feasible timelines. What we understand is this:Due to the lack of a transition process presently, payment will not be coming through the State effective January 1st, 2014 Brokerages will continue to provide your payment until an appropriate plan is developed and agreed upon. Given the amount of work left to do during implementation, our best guess...
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