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Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
2100 Contracting Requirements
Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
If this is the first time you have contracted with the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) to provide Emergency Response Services (ERS), you must receive service-specific training before any referrals from DADS can be made. To receive orientation/ training, contact the contract manager in the regional office. A list of regional office telephone numbers can be found in Appendix II, Regional Contacts.
If you currently have a contract with DADS (for the same service in another region) and have already received orientation, you do not have to receive the service-specific orientation/training from the contract manager in the region again. Documentation indicating that orientation has previously been received must be presented to the regional contract manager.
Remember, failure to have adequate staff available to provide services upon receipt of training may lead to contract termination.
Providers:
- must comply with the complaint procedures outlined in Chapter 49, Contracting for Community Services;
- must comply with Executive Order 11246, titled "Equal Employment Opportunity," as amended by Executive Order 11375 and supplemented in Department of Labor regulations at 41 CFR, Part 60;
- must comply with applicable provisions of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C., 7401 et seq.) and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (33 U.S.C., 1251 et seq.), if funding under this contract exceeds $100,000;
- must comply with §231.006, Texas Family Code, which stipulates that the individual or business entity named in the contract, bid or application certifies it is not ineligible to receive the specified grant, loan or payment and acknowledges that the contract may be terminated and payment may be withheld if this certification is inaccurate; and
- are responsible for their behavior, as well as the behavior of their staff and subcontractors to ensure a violence-free contractual relationship. Any remarks, gestures or actions toward DADS employees, volunteers and/or individuals that carry an implied threat of any kind, even if intended to be in jest, will be taken seriously and may lead to corrective action, up to and including revocation of the contract.
The contractor certifies that the goods and/or service(s) covered by this contract are designed to be used before, during and after calendar year 2000 A.D. The goods and/or service(s) will operate during such time periods without error relating to date data that represent different centuries or more than one century.
2200 Advertising and Solicitation of Individuals
Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
The Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) may investigate complaints of solicitation of coerced individuals. Validated complaints may lead to adverse actions. Such sanctions may lead to termination of your contract.
You are in violation of your Emergency Response Services (ERS) contract if you employ a person:
- who is paid money each time the employee recruits a new Medicaid recipient; or
- whose sole responsibility is recruitment, regardless of how the employee is compensated.
You may have an employee who is responsible for recruitment in addition to other assignments, as long as the employee is paid a regular salary and does not receive bonuses or anything that could be construed as a bonus for recruitment of individual Medicaid recipients.
2300 General Contracting Requirements
Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
Provider enrollment is the method of contracting for Emergency Response Services (ERS). A legal entity may apply to receive a contract if the legal entity meets the requirements specified in Chapter 49, Contracting for Community Care Services.
When a provider applies to provide ERS, regional staff send the provider an application package. The package includes a list of current providers, unit rate(s) paid to each provider and the areas each provider serves. The applicant specifies in the completed package a unit rate for the counties in the region that the applicant plans to serve. Only one unit rate is allowed for each contract in each region, regardless of the number of counties served. The unit rate may not exceed the lesser of the:
- statewide ceiling; or
- average private-pay rate for services delivered according to the Department of Aging and Disability Services standards.
2310 Enrollment
Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
Regional contract staff enroll providers in the Emergency Response Services program. To have your enrollment-related questions answered, call the the Department of Aging and Disability Services regional office in your city. See Appendix II, Regional Contacts.
2320 Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
Because the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) requires both private and public facilities to be accessible without discrimination, the Department of Aging and Disability Services can refuse to contract with a facility that has been licensed but does not meet ADA requirements.
2400 Contract Assignment
Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
If you plan to assign your contract, you (the assignor) must notify the regional office in writing of the intent 60 days before assigning the contract. You and the assignee must complete Form 5881, Contract Assignment and Agreement, which includes information regarding:
- your and the assignee's authority to enter into the contract agreement; and
- any bankruptcy actions pending in court for you and the assignee.
Form 5881 must be notarized and include an original official notary seal. The Department of Aging and Disability Services(DADS) will use the information on the form to determine whether to approve a contract assignment. Failure to provide the form will result in the denial of the contract assignment. Submission of false information on the form will result in adverse action, up to and including denial of the contract assignment and/or termination of the assignor/assignee's contract. DADS may also refer providers that submit false information for prosecution. The written notification from the assignor must be notarized and signed by the person authorized to sign the contract. Form 5881 must be mailed to the regional office.
The DADS regional office mails a contract assignment application to the assignor within seven days after receipt of written notification to DADS of the intent to assign a contract.
The guidelines for a contract assignment agreement are found in Appendix I, Assignment of Contracts, and Chapter 49, Contracting for Community Care Services.
2500 Subcontracts
Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
You must not subcontract any services to be performed under the contract without written prior approval from the Department of Aging and Disability Services, Community Care Section (state office).
2600 Method of Payment
Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
The Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) determines a unit rate ceiling for Emergency Response Services based on data obtained from the cost report submitted to HHSC by each individual service contractor. Rates can be accessed at: https://pfd.hhs.texas.gov.
To find information about HHSC's methodology for setting a reimbursement rate, establishing allowable and unallowable costs, and establishing cost-report requirements, see 40 TAC, Chapter 52, Contracting to Provide Emergency Response Services, and 1 TAC Part 15, Chapter 355, Subchapter A, §§355.101-111, Cost Determination Process.
2700 Misrepresentation
Revision 06-1; Effective April 10, 2006
Sometimes individuals or representatives of private businesses contact Community Services providers and misrepresent themselves as having affiliation with the Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) in order to provide services or to inquire about purchasing a provider. At times these individuals are providing false information concerning issues such as rate cuts or proposed changes in program policies.
In order to make these Community Services contacts, it appears that these individuals or private businesses have obtained a list of Community Services providers either from DADS state office or other sources. Although any individual or private business may, under state law, have a list of all Community Services providers, that in itself in no way indicates an affiliation with DADS.