SECTION 317:50-1-12. Eligible providers

  Medically Fragile Program service providers, must be certified by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) and all providers must have a current signed SoonerCare contract on file with the Medicaid Agency (Oklahoma Health Care Authority).

(1)   The provider programmatic certification process verifies that the provider meets licensure, certification and training standards as specified in the Waiver document and agrees to Medically Fragile program Conditions of Participation. Providers must obtain programmatic certification to be Medically Fragile program certified.

(2)   The provider financial certification process verifies that the provider uses sound business management practices and has a financially stable business.

(3)   Providers may fail to gain or may lose waiver program certification due to failure to meet either programmatic or financial standards.

(4)   At a minimum, provider financial certification is reevaluated annually.

(5)   Providers of medical equipment and supplies environmental modifications, personal emergency response systems, hospice, and skilled nursing facility respite services do not have a programmatic evaluation after the initial certification.

(6)   OHCA may authorize a legally responsible family member (spouse or legal guardian) of an adult member to be SoonerCare reimbursed under the 1915(c) Medically Fragile program as a service provider, if the provider meets all of the following authorization criteria and monitoring provisions:

(A)   Authorization for a legally responsible family member to be the care provider for a member may occur only if the member is offered a choice of providers and documentation demonstrates that:

(i)   either no other provider is available; or

(ii)   available providers are unable to provide necessary care to the member; or

(iii)   the needs of the member are so extensive that the spouse or legal guardian who provides the care is prohibited from working outside the home due to the member's need for care.

(B)   The service must:

(i)   meet the definition of a service/support as outlined in the federally approved waiver document;

(ii)   be necessary to avoid institutionalization;

(iii)   be a service/support that is specified in the individual service plan;

(iv)   be provided by a person who meets the provider qualifications and training standards specified in the Waiver for that service;

(v)   be paid at a rate that does not exceed that which would otherwise be paid to a provider of a similar service and does not exceed what is allowed by the OHCA for the payment of personal care or personal assistance services;

(vi)   not be an activity that the spouse or legal guardian would ordinarily perform or is responsible to perform. If any of the following criteria are met, assistance or care provided by the spouse or guardian will be determined to exceed the extent and/or nature of the assistance they would be expected to ordinarily provide in their role as spouse or guardian:

(I)   spouse or guardian has resigned from full-time/part-time employment to provide care for the member; or

(II)   spouse or guardian has reduced employment from full-time to part-time to provide care for the member; or

(III)   spouse or guardian has taken a leave of absence without pay to provide care for the member; or

(IV)   spouse or guardian provides assistance/care for the member thirty-five (35) or more hours per week without pay and the member has remaining unmet needs because no other provider is available due to the nature of the assistance/care, special language or communication, or intermittent hours of care requirements of the member.

(C)   The spouse or legal guardian who is a service provider will comply with the following:

(i)   not provide more than forty (40) hours of services in a seven (7) day period;

(ii)   planned work schedules must be available in advance to the member's case manager, and variations to the schedule must be noted and supplied two (2) weeks in advance to the case manager, unless change is due to an emergency;

(iii)   maintain and submit time sheets and other required documentation for hours paid; and

(iv)   be documented in the service plan as the member's care provider.

(D)   In addition to case management, monitoring, and reporting activities required for all waiver services, the state is obligated to additional monitoring requirements when members elect to use a spouse or legal guardian as a paid service provider. The OHCA will monitor through documentation submitted by the case manager the following:

(i)   at least quarterly reviews by the case manager of expenditures and the health, safety and welfare status of the individual member; and

(ii)   face-to-face visits with the member by the case manager on at least a semi annual basis.

(7)   The OHCA periodically performs a programmatic audit of Case Management, Home Care (providers of Skilled Nursing, State Plan Personal Care, In-Home Respite, Advanced Supportive/Restorative Assistance and Therapy Services), and Self-Directed service providers. If due to a programmatic audit, a provider plan of correction is required, the OHCA stops new case referrals to the provider until the plan of correction has been approved and implemented. Depending on the nature and severity of problems discovered during a programmatic audit, at the discretion of the OHCA, members determined to be at risk for health or safety may be transferred from a provider requiring a plan of correction to another provider.

(8)   As additional providers are certified or if a provider loses certification, the OHCA provides notice to appropriate personnel in counties affected by the certification changes.

[Source: Added at 27 Ok Reg 2769, eff 8-1-10 (emergency); Added at 28 Ok Reg 1589, eff 6-25-11; Amended at 35 Ok Reg 1511, eff 9-14-18]