Parental Consent - The Facts and Myths

It is hard to believe that it is almost one year since CT districts began the arduous task of collecting parental consents across the State. Many districts are still struggling on obtaining consents and the window of opportunity to claim services is closing. Parental Consent Facts and Myths

Connecticut districts new to the world of obtaining parental consent were not fully ready for the change and for many began the process later than planned and missed the opportunity to reach out to their families at PPT meetings in the Spring and waited until September.

There has been some misleading information going around that has many districts looking for help and we are offering the following guidance to help you understand the facts. Although parental consent is new to our Connecticut families we have over 23 years experience working in 13 States where parental consent has been obtained for districts participating in the school based Medicaid program.

Until the regulation changed in March 2013, districts were required to obtain parental consent on a yearly basis and needed consents every time a new service was introduced in a student's IEP or IFSP plan. For many districts and States this required numerous consents every year per student.

This change helped all of our neighboring States and relieved them of the tremendous amount of paperwork by allowing a one time consent per student until they graduated, left the district, or the parent changed their minds.

That is the short version of the history of parental consent now the facts CT faces:

Parental consent officially went into effect on July 1, 2013. With no consent obtained, service logs should not be submitted. Simply put in case of an audit without documentation of parental consent for services submitted for claiming any revenue received would be returned by the district.
Rumors that CT had parental consent are just that - fact is it was an assumption that CT districts had consent on file with the State. DSS has been working very hard to help districts follow the rules and has offered their guidance.
It is in the district's best interest to obtain consents as quickly as possible as the next bit of news will not be easy to hear. Under guidance from DSS districts were informed to obtain consents as quickly as possible and to hold all claims until consent was officially obtained. Once obtained claims were to be submitted with a window of going back a year to capture all claiming.
We have received information that in the very near future districts may be notified that claims can only be submitted going forward from the day consent is signed and no retroactive claiming will be considered compliant in case of an audit. This is not offical but is being looked at so we want to be prepared.
CompuClaim's current policy to ensure that our clients meet all compliance in an audit will be following directives from the State. All current services being held in our system will be submitted as long s a district obtains parental consent and submits to us immediately.
Once DSS has documented this newest change and notifies all districts we will abide by their ruling and only submit claims that have a valid consent and meet their guidelines.
The biggest question is when this will occur and unfortunately there is no definitive guidance to date. We will work hard to keep you informed but it is our recommendation that in the district's best interest to try diligently to obtain all missing consents as soon as possible.
Reports have been submitted to the district so that you can concentrate on obtaining consents for the students that you know are Medicaid eligible first. It has always been our recommendation to obtain consents for all of your special ed identified students as well as students being evaluated in the event their eligibility status changes - consents are already on file. Click here for Parental Consent Talking Point Tips