Obtaining Parental Consent in CT - Are you Ready?
The new requirement for schools to obtain Parental consent officially went into effect on July 1, 2013. Our districts have been obtaining consent for the past few months to ensure that their reimbursement revenue is not affected for the upcoming school year. Are you ready to meet this compliance that must be followed to ensure timely filing of claims?
This new requirement will not interrupt the submission of claims for all services provided through June 30, 2013. Even if your providers have not submitted their claiming for the 2012-2013 school year, as long as the services meet this requirement they will continue being submitted for your district reimbursement.
What do you do if don't yet have parental consent for all services provided after July 1, 2013? It is most important that your providers continue logging their services for all students. We will submit those claims that have parental consent and hold those that do not, until parental consent is received. Your district has one year to hold any claims that do not have parental consent, after that they are no longer billable.
The following tips will help your district obtain consent
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Discuss with parents that signing consent allows the district to receive
much needed funds from the State. These funds are used to help the district meet the needs of their students by helping defray the costs for services that the district must provide. Discuss parental consent and provide forms at student’s PPT meetings. Parents should be informed by staff to help them understand that their consent in no way affects their own insurance.
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Sending home consent forms is not the most successful way to reach families. Usually the district needs to provide additional follow up so that parents can understand the program and ask questions.
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Providing consent forms at PPT meetings ensures that the districts have been able to reach the family directly and does not delay services from being submitted.
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Please make sure all original consents are maintained at the district level. We suggest keeping consents in the students file or setting up files that are accessible in case of an audit.
Our service portal allows us to document the consent date which will allow services to be submitted for reimbursement to the district. It is the districts responsibility to adhere to these rules and guidelines issued by the US Department of Education along with billing requirements per CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) and DSS (Department of Social Services).
While Districts are faced with tight budgets and struggling to find additional revenue to meet their needs, CompuClaim can offer you the best solutions to maintain documentation and ensure that your district meets all federal rules and regulations.
Click on tips for talking about Parental consent
docs/Talking Points on Parental Consent .doc
