Virginia Law

A. Target group: Medicaid eligible individuals who meet the DBHDS definition of youth at risk of serious emotional disturbance.

1. An active client shall mean an individual for whom there is a plan of care in effect which requires regular direct or client-related contacts or communication or activity with the client, family, service providers, significant others and others including at least one face-to-face contact every 90-days. Billing can be submitted for an active client only for months in which direct or client-related contacts, activity or communications occur. Authorization is required for Medicaid reimbursement.

2. There shall be no maximum service limits for case management services. Case management services must not be billed for individuals who are in institutions for mental disease.

B. Services will be provided in the entire state.

C. Comparability of services: Services are not comparable in amount, duration, and scope. Authority of § 1915(g)(1) of the Act is invoked to provide services without regard to the requirements of § 1902(a)(10)(B) of the Act.

D. Definition of services: Mental health services. Case management services assist youth at risk of serious emotional disturbance in accessing needed medical, psychiatric, social, educational, vocational, and other supports essential to meeting basic needs. Services to be provided include:

1. Assessment and planning services, to include developing an Individual Service Plan;

2. Linking the individual directly to services and supports specified in the treatment/services plan;

3. Assisting the individual directly for the purpose of locating, developing or obtaining needed service and resources;

4. Coordinating services and service planning with other agencies and providers involved with the individual;

5. Enhancing community integration by contacting other entities to arrange community access and involvement, including opportunities to learn community living skills, and use vocational, civic, and recreational services;

6. Making collateral contacts which are nontherapy contacts with an individual's significant others to promote treatment and/or community adjustment;

7. Following up and monitoring to assess ongoing progress and ensuring services are delivered; and

8. Education and counseling which guides the client and develops a supportive relationship that promotes the service plan.

E. Qualifications of providers.

1. Services are not comparable in amount, duration, and scope. Authority of § 1915(g)(1) of the Act is invoked to limit case management providers, to the community services boards only, to enable them to provide services to serious/chronically mentally ill or mentally retarded individuals without regard to the requirements of § 1902(a)(10)(B) of the Act. To qualify as a provider of case management services to youth at risk of serious emotional disturbance, the provider of the services must meet the following criteria:

a. The provider must meet state and federal requirements regarding its capacity for administrative and financial management;

b. The provider must document and maintain individual case records in accordance with state and federal requirements;

c. The provider must provide services in accordance with the Virginia Comprehensive State Plan for Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services;

d. The provider must be licensed as a provider of case management services by the DBHDS; and

e. Persons providing case management services must have knowledge of:

(1) Services, systems, and programs available in the community including primary health care, support services, eligibility criteria and intake processes, generic community resources, and mental health, mental retardation, and substance abuse treatment programs;

(2) The nature of serious mental illness, mental retardation and/or substance abuse depending on the population served, including clinical and developmental issues;

(3) Different types of assessments, including functional assessments, and their uses in service planning;

(4) Treatment modalities and intervention techniques, such as behavior management, independent living skills training, supportive counseling, family education, crisis intervention, discharge planning, and service coordination;

(5) The service planning process and major components of a service plan;

(6) The use of medications in the care or treatment of the population served; and

(7) All applicable federal and state laws, state regulations, and local ordinances.

f. Persons providing case management services must have skills in:

(1) Identifying and documenting an individual's need for resources, services, and other supports;

(2) Using information from assessments, evaluations, observation, and interviews to develop individual service plans;

(3) Identifying services and resources within the community and established service system to meet the individual's needs; and documenting how resources, services, and natural supports, such as family, can be utilized to achieve an individual's personal habilitative/ rehabilitative and life goals; and

(4) Coordinating the provision of services by diverse public and private providers.

g. Persons providing case management services must have abilities to:

(1) Work as team members, maintaining effective inter- and intra-agency working relationships;

(2) Work independently performing position duties under general supervision; and

(3) Engage and sustain ongoing relationships with individuals receiving services.

F. Providers may bill Medicaid for mental health case management to youth at risk of serious emotional disturbance only when the services are provided by qualified mental health case managers.

G. The state assures that the provision of case management services will not restrict an individual's free choice of providers in violation of § 1902(a)(23) of the Act.

1. Eligible recipients will have free choice of the providers of case management services.

2. Eligible recipients will have free choice of the providers of other medical care under the plan.

H. Payment for case management services under the plan must not duplicate payments made to public agencies or private entities under other program authorities for this same purpose.

I. Case management may not be billed concurrently with intensive community treatment services, treatment foster care case management services, or intensive in-home services for children and adolescents.