Written comments on the proposed rules received at the above address no later than May 3, 1999 will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.
Fiscal Estimate
These are new rules. They consist of standards for community mental health programs that provide intensive mental health services to children and their families.
The Department is directed by s. 51.42(7)(a)1., Stats., to certify community mental health programs, and currently certifies six types of programs. Programs that provide intensive in-home services for children and their families will be a new type.
The effect of having program certification requirements is to make program certification a condition for county purchase of the services with community aid funds. In addition, compliance with the program certification requirements becomes a condition for Medical Assistance (MA) reimbursement for any MA-covered service. It should be noted that MA coverage is not as broad as the coverage described in these rules.
The rules will not affect the expenditures or revenues of local governments. Local governments are not involved with the certification of community mental health programs and do not administer or contribute to the financing of the Medical Assistance (MA) program.
The rules will bring about a modest increase in the work of the Department's program certification staff, but the associated costs can be absorbed because there will only be about 30 programs, at least to start, and the way the rules are written assumes the in-home service programs are operated by or out of mental health outpatient clinics which program certification staff already certify and therefore visit periodically.
Community mental health in-home services for children who are severely and emotionally disturbed (SED), as defined in s. HSS 107.32(1)(a) 2., are currently reimbursed by MA as mental health outpatient clinic services, with rigorous prior authorization. About 30 programs provide MA-reimbursed in-home services to SED children, with MA paying out about $1.5 million for those services in 1996. Once the program certification standards are in place, more programs may seek MA provider certification which would increase MA spending for in-home mental health services for SED children. On the other hand, in-home mental health services for children are a less expensive alternative to inpatient services and are increasingly recognized as equally effective or more effective for many children.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
These are rules for a new type of certified community mental health program, intensive in-home services for children and their families. About 30 programs operated out of outpatient mental health clinics currently provide in-home services for children and their families. The Medical Assistance (MA) program currently reimburses clinics for in-home mental health services provided to MA-eligible children and their families under Department prior authorization guidelines. Once the rules are in effect, programs will have to comply with the rules as a condition for MA reimbursement for provision of MA-covered services.
Almost one-third of the programs currently providing intensive in-home mental health services for children and their families appear to be small businesses as “small business" is defined in s. 227.114 (1) (a), Stats. The rules define what an intensive in-home mental health services program for children and their families is for purposes of county operation or purchase of services and MA reimbursement of providers of services to MA-eligible recipients..
The rules cover the qualifications of professional personnel, which are about the same as the qualifications for professional personnel of other certified community mental health programs included in rules recently amended or under revision; eligibility for services criteria; intake and assessment; development of a family services plan; the services that are to be available; limits on service intensity and duration; client records; and client rights.
Professional skills necessary for compliance with the rules are program administration and the clinical direction and supervision, services facilitation and therapy involved in providing intensive in-home mental health services to eligible children and their families.
Notice of Hearings
Health & Family Services
(Community Services, Chs. HFS 30-)
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to s. 46.295 (6), Stats., the Department of Health and Family Services will hold public hearings to consider the repeal and recreation of ch. HFS 77, Wis. Adm. Code, relating to criteria and procedures for reimbursement of interpreting services for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Hearing Information
April 29, 1999 Room D103
Thursday North Central Technical College
From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 1000 W. Campus Drive
WAUSAU, WI
April 30, 1999 Center for the Deaf and Hard
Friday of Hearing
From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 3505 N. 124th Street
BROOKFIELD, WI
May 3, 1999 Room S 214E
Monday State Laboratory of Hygiene
From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. 2601 Agriculture Drive
(intersects with Pflaum Rd.
a few blocks east of Hwy. 51)
MADISON, WI
The hearing sites are fully accessible to people with disabilities.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Health and Family Services
This order updates the Department's rules for operation of a program established under s. 46.295, Stats., that reimburses interpreters for the provision of interpreting services for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. It is necessary to update the rules because the program has made changes in how interpreters are scheduled and in the method of certifying and verifying interpreters who are not certified by the National Registry of Interpreters for the deaf, and because of changes in the generally accepted preferred terminology for referring to people with hearing loss and to the services required to support communication access.
The current rules state that the Department will schedule interpreting services for an individual or organization authorized to receive interpreting services funded by the Department. However, although the Department continues to fund interpreting services and maintain lists of qualified interpreters, it no longer directly schedules interpreters. Requests for interpreting services are received and reviewed by the Department's 6 region-based Coordinators for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services to ensure that the circumstances for which services are requested meet the requirements of the program statute and ch. HFS 77. If qualified, the individual or organization requesting the service is provided with a registry of certified and verified interpreters. The individual or organization then schedules the interpreter.
The current rules do not mention the Wisconsin Interpreting and Transliterating Assessment (WITA) as a way to certify and verify the qualifications of sign language interpreters for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing. Yet in May 1996, the Department began using WITA as the primary method of certifying and verifying interpreters to eventually replace the Wisconsin Quality Assurance Program. Interpreters verified through WITA qualify for reimbursement by the Department for interpreting services provided under ch. HFS 77.
The current rules refer throughout to “hearing impaired persons" and “interpreter services", which are terms also used in s. 46.295, Stats., although undefined there. These are replaced in the revised rules with “deaf or hard of hearing persons" and “interpreting services," which are terms preferred by the deaf and hard of hearing communities.
Contact Person
To find out more about the hearings or to request a copy of the proposed rules, write or phone:
Joan Sanzen
Bureau of Sensory Disabilities
P. O. Box 7852
Madison, Wisconsin 53707-7852
608-243-5627 V/TTY;
Sign language interpreters and real time captioning will be available at each hearing.
If you are visually impaired or do not speak English and if you, therefore, require a non-English interpreter at a hearing or a non-English, large print or taped version of the hearing document, contact the person at the address or phone number shown above. Persons requesting a non-English interpreter should contact the person at the address or phone number given above at least 10 days before the hearing. With less than 10 days notice, a non-English interpreter may not be available.
Written comments on the proposed rules received at the above address no later than May 10, 1999 will be given the same consideration as testimony presented at the hearing.
Fiscal Estimate
These revised rules will not affect the expenditures or revenues of state government or local governments.
Revisions to the rules are being made to reflect programmatic changes that have been made in the following areas:
1. The process for scheduling interpreters – The Department no longer schedules interpreters. Instead, the Department's 6 region-based Coordinators for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services provide to persons requesting interpreting services a registry of certified and verified interpreters, and the persons requesting the services then schedule the interpreters.
2. The method of certifying and verifying interpreters – The Wisconsin Interpreting and Transliterating Assessment (WITA) was implemented in May 1996 as a primary method of certifying and verifying interpreters. Interpreters certified through WITA qualify for reimbursement by the Department for services provided under these rules. WITA is not referenced in the current rules.
3. The terminology for referring to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and to the services that support them – The current rules refer to deaf or hard of hearing individuals as “hearing impaired persons." The preferred terminology is “deaf or hard of hearing persons." The preferred terminology for the services provided by an interpreter is “interpreting services" rather than “interpreter services" as in the current rules.
These changes are programmatic only and have no fiscal impact on the appropriation for the activities specified in ch. HFS 77.
Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
These are changes to rules that apply to deaf or hard of hearing persons who need interpreting services, sign language and oral interpreters who provide those services and individuals and governmental agencies, courts and private agencies that request interpreting services or information about interpreting services under s. 46.295, Stats.
The Department maintains 2 registries of certified and verified interpreters and reimburses interpreters for services provided
Most of the 300 or so certified sign language and oral interpreters for deaf and hard of hearing persons in Wisconsin operate as small businesses, as “small business" is defined in s. 227.114 (1) (a), Stats.
The principal rule changes – scheduling done by the requesting individual or organization rather than by the Department; use of the Wisconsin Interpreting and Transliterating Assessment (WITA) as the primary means for certifying and verifying interpreters, which will eventually replace the Wisconsin Quality Assurance Program; and replacing two terms used in the rules with terms generally preferred by persons who are deaf or hard of hearing – are already in effect and so will not have any impact on interpreters.
Notice of Hearings
Health & Family Services
(Community Services, Chs. HFS 30-)
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to ss. 46.973 (2) (c), 51.42 (7) (b) and 51.45 (8) and (9), Stats., the Department of Health and Family Services will hold public hearings to consider the repeal of ss. HFS 61.022 (1), (4) and (6) and 61.06 (14) and subch. III of ch. HFS 61, Wis. Adm. Code, and the creation of ch. HFS 75, Wis. Adm. Code, relating to standards for community substance abuse prevention and treatment services.
Hearing Information
May 5, 1999 Room 40
Wednesday State Office Building
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 819 N. 6th Street
MILWAUKEE, WI
May 6, 1999 Room 751
Thursday State Office Building
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 1 W. Wilson Street
MADISON, WI
May 12, 1999 Room 152A
Wednesday State Office Building
From 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. 200 N. Jefferson Street
GREEN BAY, WI
