MONDAY REPORT
March 10, 2003
SPECIAL NOTE: Copyright 2003. The Monday Report is produced each week as a benefit to the member agencies of the Child Care Association. Please protect this membership benefit - DO NOT copy and distribute this report to agencies/staff that are not members of CCA. Thank you for your cooperation.
HHS
ADOPTS FINAL SECURITY STANDARDS UNDER HIPAA
OFFICE
OF COMMUNITY SERVICE FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
CCAI
MEMBERSHIP MEETING NOT TO BE MISSED
MARK
YOUR CALENDAR FOR CCAI�s ANNUAL MEETING
Last week we
asked all agencies to contact their Senators and Representatives about several
bills that were being heard in committee � SB 73, SB 226 and HB 2545.
Copies of fact sheets and testimony with talking points were provided.
The results of the hearings were as follows:
SB
73 - This is the privatization bill that would impact contracting with the
State. It was voted out of the
Senate Labor and Commerce Committee 6 to 4 with two amendments.
The amendments that were added made language changes in adding exemptions
as to who would be impacted by this legislation.
CCA is in the process of working on amendment language and will advise
members as to further action needed.
SB
226 � This is the prompt payment bill.
It was not voted out of committee last week but will be heard again this
week in the State Government Committee on March 12, 2003.
Please contact sponsor Senator Dan Cronin and members of the State
Government Committee and urge their support of this legislation.
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SGOA
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HB
2545 � Redeploy Illinois Program. This
would provide a strategy to enable counties to build a continuum of care for
youth in the juvenile justice system. This
was voted out of committee last week. (JMS)
Representative
Jerry Mitchell, bill sponsor, and Gary Lieder, Legislative Director for the
Illinois Administrators of Special Education agreed to eliminate all references
to private schools in House Bill 1180. The
bill is being held while the amendment is drafted.
CCA members responded in substantial numbers, and many tapped local
political connections to cause this significant shift.
House Bill 1180 is now a funding bill for public special education,
changing their formula from a flat dollar amount per child to a block grant
based on IDEA child count, which is then indexed to the general state aid
formula. Congratulations to all CCA
members who went the extra mile on this. The
most vulnerable children in special education will benefit from your efforts (BRH).
This
bill, which is also sponsored by Jerry Mitchell, would restore the full funding
of the Orphanage Act, which was eliminated during budget negotiations last year.
CCA urges your support of this legislation.
A letter with the names and address of Executive Committee members will
be sent to all Education Committee members (BRH).
A number of
different web sites that have information with regards to HIPAA were cited in a
recent article and we wanted to pass that information along to all members.
We have posted it on the CCAI web site in the Members Only Section.
Some of the web sites include compliance tools, model policies, and tool
kits. Go to www.cca-il.org.
(JMS)
The Child Care
Association of Illinois had sent out an inquiry in January to all members to
determine the level of commitment from agencies to support the development of a
HIPAA manual by the Association. After
reviewing various resources and proposals with their related costs, including
the number of members that wanted to purchase this type of manual, we located a
resource that was used by the Michigan Association and is available now.
We have notified those agencies that indicated an interest in purchasing
a manual and provided an order form with a list of the documents that would be
included. The organization
L3PAssociates has developed a CD Rom with templates of policies and forms, which
are targeted towards social services and behavioral health organizations.
L3P Associates is providing a discount on this CD Rom to members of the
Child Care Association of Illinois. We
hope this information will assist agencies to move forward in meeting HIPAA
readiness requirements. Privacy
requirements for HIPAA are required to be in place by April 2003.
If other agencies are interested in looking into this resource, go to the
CCAI web site in the Members Only Section (www.cca-il.org).
Agencies also need to keep in mind as they proceed that they still must
consider Illinois Mental Health Laws. (JMS)
On February 13,
2003, HHS Secretary announced the adoption of final security standards for
protecting individually identifiable health information when it is maintained or
transmitted electronically. At the
same time he also announced the adoption of modifications to a number of the
electronic transactions and code sets adopted as national standards. Both final
regulations are required as part of the administrative simplification provisions
included in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
(HIPAA).
Overall, these
national standards required under HIPAA will make it easier and less costly for
the health care industry to process health claims and handle other transactions
while assuring patients that their information will remain secure and
confidential. The security
standards in particular will help safeguard confidential health information as
the industry increasingly relies on computers for processing health care
transactions.
Under the
security standards announced today, health insurers, certain health care
providers and health care clearinghouses must establish procedures and
mechanisms to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of
electronic protected health information. The
rule requires covered entities to implement administrative, physical and
technical safeguards to protect electronic protected health information in their
care.
The security
standards will be published as a final rule in the Feb. 20 Federal Register with
an effective date of April 21, 2003. Most
covered entities will have two full years � until April 21, 2005 � to comply
with the standards. CMS (Centers
for Medicaid and Medicare Services) is responsible for implementing and
enforcing the security standards, the transactions standards and other HIPAA
administrative simplification provisions, except for the privacy standards.
HHS� Office for Civil Rights is responsible for implementing and
enforcing the privacy rule. For
additional information and a full copy of this rule go to: www.hipaadvisory.com/news/2003/0213hhs.htm.
(JMS)
The Office of
Community Services is a department within the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, Administration for Children and Families Division (ACF).
The Office of Community Services administers 12 programs to help low
income individuals and to strengthen communities.
In 2003, the Office of Community services will make available more than
$100 million in funding opportunities and is conducting conferences to inform
organizations about their programs, the priorities for 2003 and the federal
grant process. Awards will be made by September 30, 2003.
There is a conference scheduled for Chicago. For more information go to: http://ocsconference.net
(JMS)
The CCAI Spring Membership Meeting is just around the corner. Topics for the March 20 meeting at the Hickory Ridge Conference Center include:
Quest for Quality in the Private Sector--Keynote Address by National Expert Fotena Zirps.
Status of the Illinois Budget and Legislative Agenda.
Accountability Proposal and Implementation Steps.
Updates on RSN for Residential.
Projections for Next Year�s Foster Care Program.
Public Relations� Strategies for CCAI.
CEU's will be provided free of charge to CCAI members.
If you need a registration form please call the Springfield CCAI office and we will be happy to fax one to you. (MB)
The association will hold its� Annual Membership Meeting, and Barbecue on June 4-5 at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield. Be sure to mark your calendar and hold those dates. (SKA)
March 20 � CCAI Spring Membership Meeting, Hickory Ridge Conference Center, Lisle
April 8 � Dr. Larry Brendtro and Dr Nicholas J. Long; for information please contact Dave
McKenna (847) 245-6393 or [email protected]
April 9 & 10 � Life Space Crisis Intervention 2-Day Foundation Skills; for information please
contact Dave McKenna (847) 245-6393 or [email protected]
April 9,10, and May 6, 7, 8 � Life Space Crisis Intervention Certification Training; for
information please contact Dave McKenna (847) 245-6393 or
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For
further information on any of the above, contact the staff member noted in
parentheses at the end of the text: MB = Marge
Berglind 312/819-1950
([email protected])
JMS
= Jan Schoening 217/528-4409,
ext. 25 BRH=
Bridget Helmholz 217/528-4409,
ext. 24 |
Sandy Armstrong
217/528-4409 ext. 22
([email protected]) Kelly
Pantaleone 217/528-4409,
ext. 26 ([email protected]) BMO=Barb
Oldani 217/528-4409,
ext. 21 ([email protected]) |
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