The Arc of Illinois Update – HFS Delays Medicaid Provider Change

Reminder Friday Webinar with New DD Director – Sept 27!
Please join us for the Arc of Illinois member webinar with the new Director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities, Allison Stark, Friday September 27 at 12:30 pm.  We will welcome Director Stark and ask her to talk about her vision, priorities and plans for the division.  

Register here.

Director Stark Started Monday
Allison Stark has committed her entire career to serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Allison most recently served as the President and CEO of Orchard Village, a nonprofit in the North Chicagoland area providing an array of community based services to individuals with I/DD. Prior to her 12 years with Orchard Village, Allison was a Program Manager at Resources for Living in Evanston, and a Home & Community Based Services Waiver Case Manager for Adult Care Management in Lafayette, Colorado. Allison holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago.  

HFS Delays Implementation of Ordering/Referring/Prescribing Requirements  
As we have reported, Illinois is the last state to implement a required change by the Federal Government to ensure that all doctors being paid by Medicaid are licensed.  This requires doctors who are ordering procedures, referring patients and prescribing drugs to be registered within the IMPACT system.  Initially it was supposed to be implemented October 1.  The below notice came out today to indicate it will be delayed until November 1.

This notice is in follow up to the notice we sent out on September 5^th and the update sent on September 18^th regarding the Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) policy change which requires all practitioners who order, refer, or prescribe Medicaid services to be enrolled through the Illinois Medicaid Program Advanced Cloud Technology (IMPACT) as a participating Physician, Dentist, Optometrist, Podiatrist, Advanced Practical Nurse or a Physician Assistant.

On September 23, 2019, HFS submitted another Provider Notice delaying the implementation of the ordering/referring/prescribing requirements one month, from October 1, 2019 to November 1, 2019. The September 23^rd provider notice is located here: https://www.illinois.gov/hfs/MedicalProviders/notices/Pages/prn190923a.aspx.
According to HFS, questions regarding this notice may be directed to a billing consultant for the specific provider type at 877-782-5565.

Should the Division receive more information on this impending change, we will share it through this communication. If you have questions and need to e-mail them, please send them to  Derek.Hedges@illinois.gov.