Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 9, September, 2024
Y. "Qualified
Behavioral Health Provider" means a person who:
1. Does not possess an Arkansas license to
provide clinical behavioral health care;
2. Works under the direct supervision of a
mental health professional;
3. Has
successfully completed prescribed and documented courses of initial and annual
training sufficient to perform all tasks assigned by a mental health
professional;
4. Acknowledges in
writing that all qualified behavioral health provider services are controlled
by client care plans and provided under the direct supervision of a mental
health professional.
Z.
"Quality assurance (QA) meeting" means a meeting held at least quarterly for
systematic monitoring and evaluation of clinic services and compliance. See
also, Medicaid Outpatient Behavioral Health Services Manual, §
212.000.
AA. "Reviewer" means a
person employed or engaged by:
1. DHS or a
division or office thereof;
2. An
entity that contracts with DHS or a division or office thereof.
BB. "Site" means a distinct place
of business dedicated to the delivery of Outpatient Behavioral Health Services
within a fifty (50) mile radius. Each site must be a bona fide Behavioral
Health Agency, meaning a behavioral health outpatient clinic providing all the
services specified in this rule and the Medicaid Outpatient Behavioral Health
Services Manual. This includes sites DHS may certify when adjunct to or
collocated with non-behavioral healthcare services or facilities such as a
school, a day care facility, a long term care facility, or the office or clinic
of a physician or psychologist.
CC.
"Site relocation" means closing an existing site and opening a new site no more
than a fifty (50) mile radius from the original site.
DD. "Site transfer" means moving existing
staff, program, and clients from one physical location to a second location
that is no more than a fifty (50) mile radius from the original site.
EE. "Supervise" as used in this rule means to
direct, inspect, observe, and evaluate performance.
FF. "Supervision documentation" means written
records of the time, date, subject(s), and duration of supervisory contact
maintained in the provider's official records.
IV.
COMPLIANCE TIMELINE:
A. Entities currently certified as
Rehabilitative Services for Persons with Mental Illness (RSPMI) providers will
be grandfathered in as certified Behavioral Health Agencies. Current RSPMI
agency recertification procedures are based upon national accreditation
timelines. Behavioral Health Agency recertification will also be based upon
national accreditation timelines.
B. All entities in operation as of the
effective date of this rule must comply with this rule within forty-five (45)
calendar days in order to maintain certification.
C. DHS may authorize temporary compliance
exceptions for new accreditation standards that require independent site
surveys and specific service subset accreditations. Such compliance exceptions
expire at the end of the provider's accreditation cycle and may not be renewed
or reauthorized.
V.
APPLICATION FOR DHS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AGENCY CERTIFICATION:
A. New Behavioral Health Agency applicants
must complete DHS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AGENCY CERTIFICATION Form 100, DHS
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AGENCY FORM 200, and DHS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AGENCY Form
210
B. DHS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AGENCY
CERTIFICATION Form 100, DHS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AGENCY FORM 200, and DHS
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AGENCY Form 210 can be found at the following website:
Provider Services & Quality Assurance - Arkansas Department of Human
Services
C. Applicants must submit
the completed application forms and all required attachments for each proposed
site to:
Department of Human Services
Division of Provider Services and Quality Assurance
ATTN: Licensure and Certification
P.O. Box 1437 S-530
Little Rock, AR 72203
D. Each applicant must be an outpatient
behavioral health care agency:
1. Whose
primary purpose is the delivery of a continuum of outpatient behavioral health
services in a free standing independent clinic;
2. That is independent of any DHS certified
Behavioral Health Agency.
E. Behavioral Health Agency certification is
not transferable or assignable.
F.
The privileges of a Behavioral Health Agency certification are limited to the
certified site. may obtain up to ten (10) additional days based on a showing of
good cause.
6. DHS will furnish site-specific
certificates via postal or electronic mail within ten (10) calendar days of
issuing a site certification.
B. Survey Components: An outline of site
survey components is available on the DHS website: Provider Services &
Quality Assurance - Arkansas Department of Human Services and is located in
appendix # 7.
C. Determinations:
1. Application approved.
2. Application returned for additional
information.
3. Application denied.
DHS will state the reasons for denial in a written response to the
applicant.
VII.
DHS Access to Applicants/Providers:
A. DHS may contact applicants and providers
at any time;
B. DHS may make
unannounced visits to applicants/providers.
C. Applicants/providers shall provide DHS
prompt direct access to applicant/provider documents and to applicant/provider
staff and contractors, including, without limitation, clinicians,
paraprofessionals, physicians, administrative, and support staff.
D. DHS reserves the right to ask any
questions or request any additional information related to certification,
accreditation, or both.
VIII.
ADDITIONAL CERTIFICATION
REQUIREMENTS:
A. Care and Services
must:
1. Comply with all state and federal
laws, rules, and regulations applicable to the furnishing of health care funded
in whole or in part by federal funds; to all state laws and policies applicable
to Arkansas Medicaid generally, and to Outpatient Behavioral Health Services
specifically, and to all applicable Department of Human Services ("DHS")
policies including, without limitation, DHS Participant Exclusion Policy §
1088.0.0. The Participant Exclusion Policy is available online at Provider
Services & Quality Assurance - Arkansas Department of Human
Services
2. Conform to
professionally recognized behavioral health rehabilitative treatment
models.
3. Be established by
contemporaneous documentation that is accurate and demonstrates compliance.
Documentation will be deemed to be contemporaneous if recorded by the end of
the performing provider's first work period following the provision of the care
or services to be documented, or as provided in the Outpatient Behavioral
Health Services manual, § 252.110, whichever is longer. expiration month
if there is no interruption in the accreditation. (The six-month extension is
to give the Behavioral Health Agency time to receive a final report from the
accrediting organization, which the provider must immediately forward to
DHS.)
B. Providers must
furnish DHS a copy of:
1. Correspondence
related to the provider's request for re-accreditation:
a. Providers shall send DHS copies of
correspondence from the accrediting agency within five (5) business days of
receipt;
b. Providers shall furnish
DHS copies of correspondence to the accrediting organization concurrently with
sending originals to the accrediting organization.
2. An application for provider and site
recertification:
a. DHS must receive provider
and site recertification applications at least fifteen (15) business days
before the DHS Behavioral Health Agency certification expiration
date;
b. The Re-Certification form
with required documentation is DHS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH AGENCY Form 230 and is
available at Provider Services & Quality Assurance - Arkansas Department of
Human Services.
C. If DHS has not recertified the provider
and site(s) before the certification expiration date, certification is void
beginning 12:00 a.m. the next day.
XIV.
MAINTAINING DHS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
AGENCY CERTIFICATION:
A. Providers
must:
1. Maintain compliance;
2. Assure that DHS certification information
is current, and to that end must notify DHS within thirty (30) calendar days of
any change affecting the accuracy of the provider's certification
records;
3. Furnish DHS all
correspondence in any form (e.g., letter, facsimile, email) to and from the
accrediting organization to DHS within thirty (30) calendar days of the date
the correspondence was sent or received except:
a. As stated in § XII;
b. Correspondence related to any change of
accreditation status, which providers must send to DHS within three (3)
calendar days of the date the correspondence was sent or received.
c. Correspondence related to changes in
service delivery, site location, or organizational structure, which providers
must send to DHS within ten (10) calendar days of the date the correspondence
was sent or received.
4.
Display the Behavioral Health Agency certificate for each site at a prominent
public
