Nov 22, 2024
New York State
Department of Health
New York Early Intervention System (NYEIS) Electronic Mailing List
State of the EI-Hub Week of November 18
Dear Colleague:
As we near Thanksgiving, a time of gratitude, I want to say thank you and express my appreciation for your dedication to the Program and the children and families you serve.
The Bureau of Early
Intervention (BEI) has had a busy week working with Public Consulting Group
(PCG) to ensure that the EI-Hub supports users to manage the work they do for
children and families in the Early Intervention Program (EIP), and provider and
county payments continue. I would like to share the following EI-Hub updates,
and hope this further solidifies for you, the Department’s commitment to making
system improvements based on your feedback.
EI-Hub Development
The New York State EIP is a large and complex system. There is a diversity of geography, demographics, and local administration of the Program. As such, EI-Hub system development was tailored to the unique circumstances of the State, which includes both large and small counties, as well as providers who claim for services using the Service Logging module, or electronically. We continue to work with PCG to make updates for all stakeholders, with their individual needs in mind.
Planned System
Updates
As recently
included in my November 18th communication to the field, BEI and PCG are working to modify EI-Hub business rules to address issues with the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) data entry in the EI-Hub that is not allowing service authorizations to be entered as needed. This improvement will ensure that children can continue to receive early intervention services and that providers who continue to deliver services can successfully receive a service authorization to bill and get paid for services, once the IFSP and service authorization is data entered back into the EI-Hub. This modification is currently being finalized, with the goal of making it available within the week.
Communications
and Engagement
The Bureau is committed to keeping the lines of communication
open with stakeholders. BEI and PCG are proactively responding to calls and
emails from end-users. We are working on a list of known issues with
information about the plan and timeline for resolution. Both the plan and
timeline will be shared with stakeholders soon.
EI-Hub
Stakeholder Group
We recognize the
importance of user feedback and are committed to learning from your experiences
to understand what matters most as we work toward system improvements. To
support this, PCG, in collaboration with BEI, established the NY EI-Hub
Stakeholder Group, to bring together diverse perspectives to work toward
practical, user-centered enhancements for the EI-Hub. Our first meeting was
held on November 20th and focused on four key areas: provider payments and managing claim rejections, system slowness, data migration, and customer service and training. The group discussed how each issue has impacted their workflow, identified aspects of the system that were intuitive or confusing, and offered suggestions for overall improvement of overall usability. As the group continues to meet, their recommendations to BEI and PCG will be shared with all stakeholders.
Call Center
The Department continues to work with the PCG Call Center on customer service and ways to improve the wait times, including the hiring and training of additional staff. On November 19th, a new feature was introduced to Web-to-Case. Web-to-Case is a feature that allows end users to submit a request for help desk support from the EI-Hub or the Learning Management System directly to the PCG Call Center. Users who submit Web-to-Case forms will now receive an email confirmation containing their case number, submission date, and the title of the item entered. This enhancement provides clear confirmation that the submission was received and supports improved follow-up with end users.
Confidentiality
Any reports of alleged Personal Health Information (PHI) or
Personal Identifiable Information (PII) confidentiality breaches are promptly
investigated. To date, no reports of participant confidentiality breaches have
been substantiated. If providers have specific examples of potential
confidentiality concern, please direct these to PCG by submitting a Web-to-Case
ticket indicating privacy concern in the title.
Provider
Payments
One of our top
priorities is ensuring providers receive full and timely payments to maintain
financial stability. The following temporary measures are currently in place:
- Weekly escrow payments
- Lifting the 90-day timely filing claiming
- Relaxed system rules for claims needing waivers
- Stopgap Escrow Payments
- The Department implemented a process for providers to request a Stopgap escrow payment. Billing providers who opted-in to this payment received a check on November 21st for the gap in escrow payments made to providers based on previously paid escrow amounts. If the EI-Hub continues to cause delays in claiming/payment, the Department will work with providers in need of additional payments.
Again, I want to express my appreciation of your commitment to the Program and to the children and families you serve.
Sincerely,
Raymond L. Pierce
Director, Early
Intervention Program
Please do not reply
to this e-mail announcement.
Thank You.
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