We're growing, so this means a few adjustments.  Aaron Lara has been training as a new service advisor since early October.  He is now responsible for the letters A, F, L.  His extension is 1628 and  his email address is ALara@cdsintexas.com.

Teresa Covarubbias is a new payroll specialist, and she will now be responsible for the letters J, K, L, and N.  Her extension is 1629, and her email is TCovarrubias@cdsintexas.com.

The answer is 99.6%  The question?  What did CDS in Texas score on its Contract and Fiscal Monitoring by the Department of Aging and Disability Services.  

What does a monitoring survey team do?  They randomly select 30 charts from all our contracts and review every piece of paper in the chart from the documentatoin of orientation to the Texas New Hire Reporting form.  Every timesheet for the employees of those 30 clients is reviewed for a 12 month period and wages are tied to payments made by the state. They look at reimbursements and timeframes for conducting criminal history checks.  They look for signed budgets and tie wages in the budget to payroll.  They check to see if bonuses were paid appropriately.  In otherwords -- it's pretty thorough.

We want to thank all of our clients who patiently fill out new hire documents, send in their signed budgets, do their annual evaluations and fill out timesheets correctly.  This almost perfect score was achieved by your hard work as well as ours.

It was recently brought to our attention that many consumers affected by EVV do not know where to address concerns and questions. So:

For full information on EVV go to: http://www.dads.state.tx.us/evv/

If you have questions about passwords for you or your employees, call Emily Gannon, ext. 1622, at the CDS office. (Regions 2 and 4: We just received permission to register you and your employees and we will start mailing this information this week.)

For questions about the “inner” workings of the Santrax system, contact the help desk at Sandata: 1-855-781-2079.
To provide feedback to the Department of Aging and Disability Services contact by mail or email:
Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services
Mail Code W-235
PO Box 149030
Austin, TX 78714-9030
CPC@dads.state.tx.us

W-2 forms  were mailed to employee addresses last week.  If your employee has not received their W-2, they should email BWiggins@cdsintexas.com with their full name and correct address.  Corrected and replacement W-2s will be sent out every Friday. If they do not have email access, they should fax the request to Brooke Wiggins at 877 726 4919 or 210 785 3479

TIMESHEETS, BUDGETS, ALL OTHER PAPERWORK:

A – 877-726-4910 or 210-785-3470

B – 877-726-0183 or 210-733-3068

C – 877-726-4911 or 210-785-3471

D – 877-726-0184 or 210-733-3069

E – 877-726-0185 or 210-733-3073

F – 877-726-4912 or 210-785-3472

G – 877-726-0186 or 210-733-3074

H – 877-726-4913 or 210-785-3473

I – 877-726-0187 or 210-733-3102

J – 877-726-0188 or 210-733-3103

K – 877-726-0189 or 210-733-3105

L – 877-726-0190 or 210-733-3108

M – 877-726-4915 or 210-785-3475

N – 877-726-4914 or 210-785-3474

O – 877-726-0191 or 210-733-3109

P – 877-726-0192 or 210-733-3112

Q – 877-726-5893 or 210-733-3115

R – 877-726-4916 or 210-785-3476

S – 877-726-5894 or 210-733-3116

T – 877-726-4918 or 210-785-3478

U – 877-726-5895 or 210-733-3117

V – 877-726-5896 or 210-733-3119

W – 877-726-4917 or 210-785-3477

X,Y,Z – 877-726-5897 or 210-733-3124

Alternate numbers: If above numbers are not working: 866 301 1182 or 866 462 6671 or 877 812 3789

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is accepting applications for appointment to the Consumer Direction Workgroup. The workgroup assists health and human services agencies develop, implement, and administer the Consumer Directed Services (CDS) and Service Responsibility Option (SRO) programs for managing long-term services and supports.

The majority of Consumer Direction Workgroup members represent three main stakeholder groups:

• Consumer/Family members: People with disabilities or elderly persons who currently use or could use consumer-directed services-OR their family members.
• Advocates: People who advocate for people with disabilities and/or elderly persons who use or could use consumer-directed services.
• Providers: People who provide consumer-directed services to people with disabilities or elderly persons.

Appointed members agree to regular attendance and participation in workgroup activities. The workgroup meets four to six times per year. Meetings are usually held on a Friday and typically last several hours. Committee meetings are scheduled as needed and may involve travel, but members can usually participate by toll-free teleconference. Workgroup members are not paid. However, consumer/family members are reimbursed for travel and for limited respite costs.

For more information and an application, go to: http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us/about_hhsc/AdvisoryCommittees/cdw/index.shtml.

Effective immediately, participants in the CLASS program may also choose to self-direct hourly nursing, physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy.  The annual nursing reassessment will continue to be completed by your DSA. 

These professionals would be your employees and would be responsible for filling out the same forms currently completed by your personal care attendants.  They would have additional responsibility for completing plans of care and providing you with proof that they are licensed.

For additional information, please contact your service coordinator who can explain what you will need to do at your next IPP to transfer those services. 

Additionally support consultation services are now available to CLASS participants.  This program allows you to hire someone to provide you with additional support in learning how to be an employer.  Your case manager will review this new service with you at your next IPP. 

The Health and Human Services Commission meets in December to set rates for nursing services in the MDCP program. Planned for an effective February 1 date, DADS hopes to announce that MDCP CDS clients will be able to hire and their own RNs and LVNs.

The CDS agency will process the payroll. Individuals who choose this route will need to maintain a relationship with a home care agency, as the agency will need to conduct quarterly supervisory visits. Any LVNs working will have to be supervised by an RN. 

When guidelines are published we will send notices out to all MDCP clients. As mentioned above, DADS is planning to make this effective in February of next year, but with type of complex addition to the array of services for MDCP, it would not be surprising to have a delay.   Nursing services became available to CBA clients in September 2008.

DSSW's CDSinTexas has added HCS (Home and Community Based Services) to the array of CDS services provided by Disabiity Services of the Southwest.  DSSW will provide this service to all HCS regions in Texas

We are now working with your case managers and case workers to implement the rate increases that were approved with an effective date of August 1, 2009.  The increase will translate into about 65 cents per hour extra for your attendants, which you can give in the form of a bonus, as increased wages, or use for other benefits.  As we receive the authorizations from your case managers and case workers and can verify that the increase is showing in the authorization, you will receive a revised budget from us with instructions on what to do next.