NYSACRA

NYS-OPTS UPDATE December 17, 2004 PART I

NYS-OPTS UPDATE DECEMBER 17, 2004 NYS OPTIONS FOR PEOPLE THROUGH SERVICES December 17, 2004 News from the OPTS Unit (#1-2004) 1. OPTS Pilot Proposal Approvals 2. The OPTS Unit and E-mail Account for Questions 3. Secure Message Center 4. OPTS Agreement 5. Proposal Status Report as of December 13, 2004 6. OPTS Proposal Reviews 7. Items to be Included in Next Update 8. Information Sharing 9. Why You May Receive Multiple Copies of this Message 1. OPTS Pilot Proposal Approvals Two OPTS proposals have been approved, and three additional OPTS proposals have been recommended for approval during Team Review Meetings. The first OPTS proposal approved, titled by the agency, “Supporting Transition for School to Work” started with four proposed participants but has been expanded to five. The individuals to be served are young adults, who are interested in developing skills for possible future employment, but they, their families and Service Coordinators, recognize that additional services and supports are needed if these young people are to successfully transition from school to working adults. The OPTS proposal does not intend to provide supports while the individuals are employed, but to assist them in enhancing skills they have learned in school, to develop additional skills they will need to be successfully employed and to insure they are in an environment that protects their health and safety. If an individual obtains employment, they will be replaced in the proposal by another individual who is in need of the same service and choose this service. Under OPTS, the service provided under the is proposal is being called “Blended Day Service” which will allow staff to document service delivery each day on a single daily checklist developed from a single habilitation plan which will identify the services and supports designated as day habilitation or pre-vocational. In addition to the staff actions provided each day, the provider will be expected to document the amount of time the time each day that the individual participated in the service. The second OPTS proposal approved, titled by the agency, “True Choice in Residential Settings” involves development of two new IRAs so that five existing homes (former ICFs previously converted to IRAs) can be “rightsized” and two waitlist individuals will have their unmet out-of-home residential need satisfied. The two new IRAs are being developed to meet the needs of two groups of individuals – seniors and medically frail. Each of these new homes will be have features to accommodate the individuals who will reside there, such as space for adaptive equipment or medical equipment and staff trained to serve these groups of individuals. As they have done in the past, the agency will seek out housing credits to reduce the cost of the new homes. As the existing homes are rightsized the individuals who remain there will benefit by having more personal space for privacy, less crowded common space and increased opportunities for participation in community activities based on common interests and abilities. 2. The OPTS Unit and E-Mail Account for Questions An OPTS Unit has been established in Central Office to coordinate the receipt, tracking and processing of OPTS proposals. The OPTS Unit is the point of contact for anyone who wants to know the status of a specific proposal, a central point to receive and answer questions on OPTS, and oversight of OPTS proposals when approved and implemented. Karla Smith has been appointed Director of the OPTS Unit. Full time staff includes Eugenia Haneman and Charlene Diehl, with Robert Murphy assisting part-time. The phone number for the OPTS Unit is (518) 408-2744. E-mail addresses are: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it OPTS questions can be sent via e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Questions of general interest will be included in a “Frequently Asked Questions” listing that is being compiled. OPTS proposals must be submitted electronically through the OMRDD Secure Message Center to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it An Acknowledgement Letter is sent on each OPTS proposal received. The Acknowledgement Letter will identify if the proposal was complete, or components that were missing. 3. Secure Message Center An e-mail distribution list of users who have been granted passwords to the Secure Message Center has been established, and will be updated as new users are granted access to the Secure Message Center. We will use this distribution list to send out general information on OPTS proposals. Users are encouraged to periodically check their Secure Message Center account for messages. We recently used the Secure Message Center distribution list to send a message about the revised Capital Finance questions discussed during an OPTS Team Review Meeting. Users were given instructions on how to submit information that would facilitate answering the revised questions. OMRDD Information Services staff has updated the “ISS Electronic Secure Messaging” link on the OMRDD Home Page (www.omr.state.ny.us) then Information for Providers, Options for People Through Services to ISS Secure Messaging Center for a revised “User ID and System Access Request Form”. The revised form has space for both the requesting user and Executive Director’s signatures. Also, the requesting user is required to identify the “Secure Application Name” to which access is being requested, for OPTS proposal submissions, enter SECURE MESSAGE CENTER. 4. OPTS Agreement The boilerplate OPTS Agreement is now available through the OMRDD Home Page, and can be accessed either through What’s New or Information for Providers. The OPTS Agreement is a contract that a provider, approved to implement an OPTS proposal, will execute with OMRDD. Reimbursement under an OPTS Agreement will be made after a provider has delivered, documented and reported service delivery. Attachment B of each OPTS Agreement will detail the service documentation and reporting requirements required. The service documentation and reporting requirements will vary depending on the services proposed and approved. 5. Proposal Status Report as of December 13, 2004 Proposals Received 102 Proposals Complete 83 a Health Checks Complete 65 Consumer Verifications Complete 37 Team Review Meetings Held/Scheduled 33 Awaiting Scheduling of Team Review Meeting 2 b Recommended for Approval 5 Proposals Approved 2 Implemented 0 c Number of DDSOs impacted by Proposals 13 Number of Proposals “On Hold” 16 Number of Proposals “Not OPTS” 6 d a – Recently providers who submitted proposals have been informed, via the Acknowledgement Letter, that contact telephone numbers are now required as part of the OPTS Application. The Application sent to providers granted access to the Secure Message Center is being updated to incorporate this requirement, and the Application on the OMRDD Home Page will also be updated. The contact telephone numbers provided may be for either consumers identified as participants in the OPTS proposal, family and/or advocates associated with an individual identified as a participant in the OPTS proposal. Contact telephone numbers are being required with the proposal submission to facilitate completion of the Consumer Verification step in the review process. b – OMRDD intends to review the OPTS proposals as quickly as possible once the Consumer Verification step has been satisfactorily completed, so this value will only represented proposals that have passed the Consumer Verification step but are not yet scheduled for a Team Review Meeting. c – The first OPTS Agreement has been approved by the Office of the Attorney General (AG) and is awaiting approval at the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC). d – Proposals determined to be “Not OPTS” are either services that OMRDD is not authorized to provide, or have already been approved for implementation outside of OPTS. 6. OPTS Proposal Reviews During the September 7th meeting of the OPTS Steering Committee, a request was made that members be informed of common concerns identified during the Team Review Meetings. The intent of the request was to share information so other providers could learn from the experiences of others. Through the end of November 2004, 19 Team Review Meetings have been held. Two proposals were recommended for approval conditioned upon satisfactory resolution of identified items. One proposal was directed back to the provider for resubmission to clarify what services the proposal was being asked to fund. Of the remaining 16 proposals, half or more, did not adequately address the review questions identified below. Q - Is the provision of individualized Services evident in this proposal? Q - Are personal outcomes for consumers specified and measured? Q - Does the proposal involve a property transaction? -- see “A” below Renovation to existing property Acquisition/Renovation New Construction Lease Q - Is the budget appropriate for proposal? Also from the 16 proposals, a third or more, did not adequately address the review questions identified below. Q- The proposal states overall how it ties to the OPTS guiding principles? Maximize opportunities for individual choices through person-centered services. Q -The proposal contains a clear and understandable description of the servicees/supports to be offered, by individual? Q -Does the proposal outline a project work plan with benchmark activities and dates? Q – Is the provision of individualized services evident in this proposal? Q - Is there evidence of a pilot evaluation committee? Q -Are there measurable outcomes? Q -Is there a timeline for the evaluation activities? Q -Will there be interim reports? Q – Does the proposal indicate where services will be provided? -- see “A” below Q - Is the budget reasonable for proposal? Q -Will expenditures in OMR non-OPTS accounts decrease as a result of this proposal? -- see “B” below Will the proposal increase, or change, the amount of services to the same individual? Will the proposal provide services to new individuals? If services are being provided to new individuals, are they being provided through backfill opportunities only? Earlier this month, Team Review participants were informed of changes had been made to the review sheets questions. Attached is a copy of the most current Pre-Screening and Proposal Review Sheet package, revisions were made on Pages 6 and 7. “A” = Capital Finance has recently revised the questions asked during the Team Review Meeting regarding property (see page 7 of the attachment). “B” = Intent of this group of questions is to determine if some, or all, of the services under the OPTS proposal are a “reinvestment” of funds currently supporting existing services. The group of questions is being evaluated for revision to clarify the intent. A number of the questions are found to not be addressed adequately because the proposal contains general language (e.g., they, the individuals to be served), not person specific language and examples. We have also noted that some proposals refer to OPTS as “grant” funding. OPTS funding is not a “grant,” instead is reimbursement paid in accordance with the terms specified in the OPTS Agreement and Appendices. Service documentation and reporting will be required before payment to a provider is made. 7. Items to be Included in Next Update Brief Summary of Select Proposals Best Practices - Inclusion Best Practices – Evaluation 8. Information Sharing We encourage you to share the information in this message with individuals who are interested in knowing more about recent activities associated with the NYS OPTS initiative. 9. Why You May Receive Multiple Copies of this Message This message is being sent to individuals on several distribution lists. If you appear on more than one of the distribution lists being used, you will receive multiple copies of this message. This message is being distributed to: OPTS Steering Committee OPTS Consumer and Family Subcommittee OPTS Implementation Subcommittee OPTS Provider Subcommittee FSS Statewide Advisory Committee Provider Associations Parent-to-Parent Liaison Self Advocate Liaison DDSO Directors Central Office Leadership Team DDSO and Central Office OPTS Point People/Liaisons