Referral
01/19/2024

TRAC-IT Update 2024-01-19

Local System Managers, Contract Providers and Independent Contractors:

Please note the following information in response to some common questions about the service coordination billing extract:

  1. Is the service coordination billing extract correctly calculating the three-month period for the required family contact? Yes. We have double-checked this, and it is correct.
  2. Does the service coordination billing extract consider attempts to contact when looking for a family contact within the past 3 months? It has not been doing so to date because TRAC-IT had no way to identify an attempt to contact. SSG is working on a change this week, and we are targeting mid to late next week to deploy the fix. The box labeled “Family Contact” will change to say “Family Contact/Attempted Contact.”
01/11/2024

TRAC-IT Update 2024-01-11

Local System Managers, Contract Agencies and Independent Contractors:

I wanted to pass along one quick TRAC-IT update this week.

Learning Opportunities Field on Service Coordination Outcome: Since launching Phase II of TRAC-IT on December 11, the Support Desk has received several questions about the learning opportunities field being a required field on the service coordination outcome. This could be an appropriate field to complete if you think about it in terms of learning opportunities for the family in relation to their priorities and the specific needs that might be reflected in the short-term goals for service coordination. However, we recognize that there will be times that this field does not apply for the service coordination outcome. To assist users when completing the IFSP directly in TRAC-IT, that field (on the service coordination outcomes only) is now prepopulated with “update as needed.” This way, the value will be there already and users will not be stopped to enter something. SSG is also updating this for existing service coordination outcomes if the learning opportunities field was blank. By doing this, users will not be stopped unnecessarily during an IFSP Review. There may be a few instances where their algorithm does not catch the blank field, but most previous IFSPs should be auto-populated through this process.

12/22/2023

TRAC-IT Update 2023-12-22

Local System Managers, Contract Agencies and Independent Contractors:

I have one quick update to pass along. SSG has deployed the first enhancement that will improve visibility to the service plan history and address IFSP Review print template requests. When you complete the IFSP Review task, the IFSP Review print template will now include:

  • The information you entered as part of the task (e.g., reason for the review, narrative description of changes made, attendees, etc.);
  • The rest of the IFSP with any service or outcome updates you made during the review; and
  • The transition pages. 

When you complete the task, the IFSP Review print template also will be added to the Documents tab.

SSG is continuing to work on service plan history and insurance history enhancements. Watch for further updates in early January.

Wishing you joy this holiday season, 

Kyla

12/14/2023

TRAC-IT Update 2023-12-14

Local System Managers, Contract Agencies and Independent Contractors:

I’m pleased to report that Phase 2 (full implementation) of TRAC-IT launched as scheduled on Monday, December 11; and there have been no reports of technical issues. The SSG Support Desk has indicated the volume of support tickets has been steady but not super high. The majority have been login questions from new users and provider agencies and questions about newly required fields.

Tip: Learning Opportunities in Service Coordination Outcome – One of the newly required fields is Learning Opportunities, which appears on each outcome. Several users have questioned what to write in this field for the service coordination outcome and why it is required for that outcome. We agree that this field should not be required for the service coordination outcome and will be working with SSG to change that. In the meantime, feel free to enter “Not applicable” or similar wording in this field.

We recognize the amount of work that has been necessary at the local level to fully implement TRAC-IT. Thank you!

12/07/2023

TRAC-IT Update 2023-12-07

Local System Managers, Contract Agencies and Independent Contractors:

Please note the following TRAC-IT updates and reminders.

Reminder: December 11th Full Implementation:  The process for deploying the required fields for full implementation will begin as early as 9PM ET on Sunday 12/10 to ensure TRAC-IT is ready for use on Monday morning (12/11).

Enhancements: Several enhancements went live in TRAC-IT last Friday night. 

  • Practitioner credentials are now included on the IFSP print template. 
  • Practitioner credentials have been added to the signature line in Contact Notes. 
  • An “Excluded” tab has been added to the Service Coordination Billing Extract and lists the children with Medicaid who did not pull to the SC billing extract for that month.  
  • Participation type has been added to IFSPs to designate when someone participated electronically or in writing. 
  • The Contact Note field that appears within tasks has been renamed to Communication Log Detail to better explain its purpose and avoid confusion with the actual contact note tasks. 

Additional Training Recordings and Documents Posted: The recording, slides and Q&A document associated with the IFSP required fields training have been posted here. The recording and materials for the contact note training are coming soon.  

12/01/2023

TRAC-IT Update 2023-12-01

Local System Managers, Contract Agencies and Independent Contractors:

Happy December! Thank you for all you’re doing to prepare for full implementation of TRAC-IT on December 11, 2023. Please note the following updates, tips and reminders.

Tip – Lost Medicaid Coverage: If you find a child with a Medicaid insurance record has lost Medicaid coverage, do not uncheck the enrolled in Medicaid EI benefit box.  Instead, end the Medicaid record with the date coverage was lost.  Only uncheck the Medicaid EI benefit box when the child has active Medicaid coverage but the EI benefit has dropped.

Data Dictionary:  A new data dictionary has been posted to the TRAC-IT documents section of our website. The new version reflects our decision to make five contact note fields optional that were previously required unless the contact note document itself was uploaded to TRAC-IT.  These fields are the following: clinical notes, ongoing assessment, suggestions (joint planning), family-caregiver update and participants. While these fields are optional to complete in TRAC-IT, the requirement for contact notes to include these fields has not changed. If you choose not to include those fields in TRAC-IT by either populating the fields or uploading your contact note in the document section, you must have complete contact notes that include this information in your local record.

Enhancements:  The following additional enhancements were released in TRAC-IT this week.

  • When discharging from the Schedule Appointments task, you should now receive a Discharge task where you can enter the discharge date and reason.
  • In addition to the practitioner and local system manager, Provider Agency Managers/Supervisors will now receive expiring EI certification notifications for their staff.  

December 11th Full Implementation:  The process for deploying the required fields for full implementation will begin as early as 9PM ET on Sunday 12/10 to ensure TRAC-IT is ready for use on Monday morning (12/11).

Training Recordings and Resources: As they become available, recordings, PPTs and Q&As for each November training session are being posted at TRAC-IT Webinars — Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia (itcva.online).

Kyla

11/17/2023

TRAC-IT Update 2023-11-17

Local System Managers, Contract Agencies and Independent Contractors:

Here are the latest TRAC-IT updates and reminders.

Training

Sandbox – The Sandbox (training environment) has been updated to reflect the fields that will be required starting 12/11/23 so users can practice and become more familiar with the changes. 

Medicaid EI Benefit Start Date – For children enrolled in the Medicaid EI benefit on or after 11/13/2023, the start date for the Medicaid EI benefit will appear on the bottom of the child’s insurance record in TRAC-IT.  You no longer need to email Keishia White to find out the start date. 

Enhancements: 

  • A column has been added to the Service Coordination productivity extract to indicate whether the activity was billable.  
  • The solution that will eliminate the requirement to populate the monthly cap field as $0 for children with Medicaid to have those children pull to the service coordination billing extract is on target to deploy tonight. As a reminder this behind-the-scenes, automated process will address the issue for current and future children. 
  • Service Plan history and Insurance history are among the additional enhancements planned. 

I hope you have a nice weekend!

Kyla

11/09/2023

TRAC-IT Update 2023-11-09

Local System Managers, Contract Agencies and Independent Contractors:

As we approach our December 11, 2023 Phase II launch for TRAC-IT, I have a number of important updates and reminders.

Training: Training sessions for full implementation of TRAC-IT begin on Monday, November 13. For a full list of sessions and registration links, please see previous TRAC-IT Updates or our Monthly Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia Update for November. All sessions will be recorded and available in the TRAC-IT webinar section of our website.

Fiscal Enhancements and Billing Extracts:

  • The recording from the 10/26/23 webinar on fiscal enhancements and the new billing extracts is posted here. The PPT slides and Q&A from that webinar are available with the recording.
  • The fiscal enhancements and new billing extracts will go live in TRAC-IT on Sunday night (11/12/23).
  • During the webinar, there were questions and concerns about needing to populate the monthly cap field as $0 for children with Medicaid to have those children pull to the service coordination billing extract. We have identified a solution that will eliminate that requirement for current and future children. This is a behind-the-scenes, automated process that will check for a completed family cost share agreement instead of requiring a value in the monthly cap field. The solution is targeted for deployment late next week. Until then, the service coordination extract will not be fully accurate if you have not entered a monthly cap.

Other Enhancements/Fixes Now Available:

  • You can edit event dates on event tasks for all events except Assessment for Service Planning (coming later).
  • The Early Intervention Service Coordination Plan task no longer gets cancelled if the child is discharged because the parent declined eligibility or the child was found ineligible.
  • The Declining Services print template will now pull the date of the most recent IFSP.
  • An optional field has been added on service logs to capture the contact method (e.g., in person, telehealth, phone, etc.) using a dropdown menu

Enhancements Under Development:

  • IFSP service plan history
  • Ability to run and save customized/personalized reports from the Client Extract, including ability to run those based on a date range

Kyla

10/19/2023

TRAC-IT Update 2023-10-19

Local System Managers, Contract Agencies and Independent Contractors:

An updated Data Dictionary, Schema, Response Schema, and Sample Input XML file have been released and are posted in the TRAC-IT Documents section of our website, TRAC-IT Documents — Infant & Toddler Connection of Virginia (itcva.online). The changes to these documents were driven by user feedback, and none of these changes represent new required fields.

Making goals on contact notes optional: Because matching goal statements on contact notes exactly to the goal statements on the IFSP in TRAC-IT posed a significant challenge to agencies attempting EHR uploads of contact notes, we have decided to make goals an optional field on contact notes. That means that contact notes uploaded from an EHR will be accepted even if they have no goal(s) or the goal provided does not match the wording on the IFSP. Goals also will be optional on contact notes for those directly entering contact notes in TRAC-IT. However, it’s very easy to include goals when directly entering a contact note in TRAC-IT since the goals are provided and the user can just check the one(s) worked on during the session.

  • Updates in Data Dictionary to row 225 for field name “progresses” – changed “Required on 12/11” to No
  • Removed error message “progress is required”

Adding new optional field Method on contact notes and corresponding value set Contact Note Method: This method field can be used to indicate how a person participated in an event (i.e., telehealth, phone, email, etc). This optional field was added to meet billing needs in some local systems.

  • New field noteMethodCode on Service Log, row 223 of the Data Dictionary
  • New value set in Value Sets tab
  • Field added to Schema and sample XML file

Re-adding Workaround as reason for late: Because contact notes are required in TRAC-IT beginning 12/11/23, we had removed Workaround as a choice in the reason for late start of service dropdown list. Recognizing that there might be some initial delays in entering/uploading contact notes as users adjust to full implementation, we have added Workaround back to the value set during this period of transition.

  • Update to “Reason If Late” value set in Value Sets tab

Adding a few more ICD 10 codes: A few more ICD 10 codes have been added based on local requests that came in through the Support Desk since the last update.

  • Added to ICD 10 code tab of the Data Dictionary
10/17/2023

TRAC-IT Update 2023-10-12

Local System Managers, Contract Agencies and Independent Contractors:

As we move closer to releasing the updated fiscal/billing extracts in a few weeks and then fully implementing TRAC-IT’s required fields on December 11, 2023, we have identified a few steps you can take now to help ensure TRAC-IT users are set up for success and all enrollments have the necessary datapoints. In addition to attending the training sessions in November, you may wish to use this opportunity to familiarize your team with the upcoming changes and update any Standard Operating Procedures or processes your organization may have to facilitate a smoother transition in December.

User Set-Up Tips

  • If providers in your local system are not entering information in TRAC-IT at this time and will be doing so on December 11, 2023, we suggest getting the providers logging into TRAC-IT and getting used to entering information as soon as possible.
  • If a provider agency will be responsible for directly entering or completing an EHR upload of contact notes into TRAC-IT, the Local System must grant then access to each relevant enrollment using the Add Provider ad hoc task.

Enrollment Tips

Tip 1: Begin entering required fields ahead of time.

  • You may wish to consult v5 (2023-08-23) version of the Data Dictionary for a comprehensive list of fields that will be required as of December 11, 2023. See column E: Required 12/11/2023.
  • In preparation for December 11, 2023, Local Systems, Provider Agencies and Independent Contractors can begin entering required fields ahead of time.

Tip 2: Clean up data for existing records: Spoken and written language.

  • There are a few fields that can be updated any time using the Update Child / Guardian Information task in the ad hoc task list. These include Primary Spoken Language, Primary Written Language. Local Systems may wish to update existing enrollments with these fields to ensure data quality. The Client Extract can be a useful tool to identify enrollments that may be missing a Spoken or Written Language.

Tip 3: Clean up data for existing records: hearing and vision results.

Moving forward, hearing and vision results are required before the initial IFSP task can be completed. For existing enrollment records where a child has an IFSP or is already receiving services, and the child does not have a hearing or vision screening/result, the child’s record can be updated using the Hearing Screening and Vision Screening ad hoc tasks.

Tip 4: Clean up data for existing records: Race cannot be unknown children with IFSPs.

Another field that can be updated ahead of time is ‘Child Race’. As of December 11, 2023, a child’s race cannot be listed as Unknown once the child has an IFSP. As a data cleanup effort on existing enrollments where the child already has an IFSP developed, local systems can perform the following steps:

  • Pull Client Extract
  • Filter Status Column to see ‘IFSP’ and ‘Services’
  • THEN filter Child Race column for ‘Unknown’
  • Within each identified enrollment use the Update Child/Guardian Information ad hoc task, select the child’s race

Tip 5: Contact Notes will be required and are used to calculate Timeliness of IFSP Services.

Local systems and provider agencies can begin entering contact notes for events and services using the system generated tasks in TRAC-IT.

  • Entered contact notes will allow agencies to effectively utilize the billing extracts.
  • Contact notes are also used to determine timely start of services.

Note: For providers who are uploading contact notes as PDFs to the documents section, this will not satisfy the condition of entering contact notes starting December 11, 2023; nor will these notes meet timeliness checks for start of new services or be available in the billing extracts.

Fiscal Tips

Tip 6: Clean up insurance records.

Prior to December 11th a new insurance dashboard will be available that will flag enrollments with ambiguous or overlapping insurances. (Exact date will be communicated in a follow up email.)

  • Existing Insurance records should be checked to ensure ambiguous and overlapping insurances are rectified.
  • Users with the Insurance role can delete inaccurate insurance and add in correct insurance as appropriate.
  • Payer priority should be checked to ensure insurances are listed as Primary > Secondary > Tertiary accordingly.

Tip 7: Update health status questions (HSQ)/health status indicators.

For service coordination activities to be billable, the system will now check to ensure an HSQ has been completed for the child within the past 7 months. Please be sure to start capturing this information through the Health Status Question ad hoc task.