On May 19, the state Department of Health (DOH) held another technical assistance call on Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) which will apply to all Medicaid-funded personal care services delivered on or after January 1, 2021.
See here for information on this requirement, along with handouts from recent webinars and registration for additional programs.
As covered in previous editions of the Situation Report, DOH has selected the “Choice Model” to meet this federal requirement. According to DOH, these are the following reasons for choosing this model: 1) it best ensures that consumers will have EVV options from which to consider when selecting a provider; 2) it gives providers of service the flexibility to select an option that best meets their business needs and the needs of the consumers they serve; and 3) it recognizes that many providers serving New York’s Medicaid consumers have already implemented EVV systems that meet the requirements of the federal Cures Act, preserving the investment that has already been made, avoiding duplicative costs, and eliminating disruption to consumers and caregivers.
On the May 19 webinar, DOH reviewed some questions it had received, including some that HCA had submitted on why the state is not posting a list of vendors that meet the requirements for performing EVV and what steps agencies should now be taking to prepare for the January 1 implementation.
DOH mentioned that it will be sending out a survey soon on agencies’ actions to implement EVV, and that there will be some pilot testing in the summer. In addition, DOH will be posting an EVV Companion Guide in the early summer with instructions for electronic communications with the statewide aggregator and information for submitting electronic transactions.
Lastly, DOH has posted a draft Interface Control Document (ICD) for review and comment. The ICD describes the relationship between the eMedNY information system and EVV submitters and specifies the requirements of both participating systems. This includes the concept of operations, the file structure and protocols that govern the interchange of data, and the communication paths along which the data is expected to flow. The ICD can be found here.
Comments on the ICD and any questions about EVV can be sent to EVVHelp@health.ny.gov.