Western Highlands Provider Friday Newsletter, 09/29/06

	Western Highlands Network
	Friday E-Mail Newsletter Number 70 09/29/2006 The Friday E-Mail is a weekly update for providers by the Services Management Department of Western Highlands Network. Please distribute to all your staff. New Vistas Mountain Laurel Announces Closing Date The next evolution of mental health system reform in the Western Highlands Network will take place on October 31, 2006, when New Vistas Mountain Laurel closes. So what happens now? WHN staff has identified a number of existing and new providers who are willing and able to step up to help prevent gaps in service. Numerous strategic planning meetings are currently being held to ensure as smooth a transition as possible for consumers and staff. So how will consumers be transferred to a new provider? For consumers receiving IPRS funded services, the staff of the ACCESS and Service Management Departments of WHN will work with the clinicians at NVML and will transfer the consumer’s clinical home to the new provider. It will be essential that consumers sign a consent for the release of information to the new provider. This is to ensure that the consumer’s medical record can be transferred to the new provider. Please note that this consent should specify the entire medical record, including substance abuse information and secondarily released information. (Ie, documents from hospitals, etc.) New authorizations will be generated from 45 to 90 days and assigned to the new provider. This process will be similar to the rollover process used when Case Management and CBS were converted to Community Support. It is highly recommended that the new provider check the lapse date of the IPRS target population and update as appropriate as soon as possible to ensure payment for services. The new provider should also check for the consent for release of information as specified above and obtain one asap if necessary. 10 days prior to the expiration of the authorization, the new provider should submit a SAR to WHN’s Service Management Department, along with the updated PCP. Please note: For this transition period , WHN will require only the following on the new PCP: the new provider is listed on the PCP the service and frequency requested is on the PCP the PCP is signed by an MD, PhD, FNP, or PA target dates that are current a complete crisis plan In the event you are a provider having consumers transferred from NVML, please send a list of these consumers by initials and case number to Marsha Ring or Kim Kuhn at WHN. Please include both Medicaid and IPRS funded consumers. Thanks for your cooperation during this transition period. A Quick Reminder about Level I Incident reporting: Please be advised that the quarterly Level I incident report summaries are due to WHN by October 10. These reports can be found at: http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/mhddsas/statspublications/manualsforms/forms/providerqtrreport-formqmQM11rev1-06.doc These forms should be emailed to Lynn Trotter at WHN at lynn@westernhighlands.org or faxed to her at (828) 225-2784. Charlie Schoenheit Director of Services Management Western Highlands Network 356 Biltmore Avenue Asheville, NC 28801 Telephone: (828)258-3511 x2219 FAX: (828) 225-2779 E-Mail: Charlie@westernhighlands.org Website: westernhighlands.org