Provider Alert! Discontinuation of EVV Required Free Text Reviews

Date: September 22, 2023

Attention: STAR Kids Providers/Consumer Directed Services employers, and FMSA Providers

Effective date: Immediately for dates of service beginning August 1, 2023

Background information: As you may know, as part of Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) compliance reviews, payers like Texas Children’s health Plan, review EVV visit transactions to determine if required free text is entered when using a reason code. Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) is discontinuing required free text reviews of EVV visit transactions beginning with dates of services August 1, 2023.

Call to action: Texas Children’s’ Health (TCHP) would like to inform providers of two changes that allow the discontinuation of this requirement:

• Billed Time in and Billed Time Out Fields added to the EVV Systems
  • The Billed Time In and Billed Out fields require the user to enter any missing clock in and clock out time before a visit is verified.
    
• The EVV Visit Logs have been updated to include the billed time in and billed time out field.
  New EVV Reason Codes (Effective October 2023) – Program providers, financial management services agencies (FMSAs) and Consumer Directed Services (CDS) employers must document why the EVV reason codes are used. The new EVV reason codes only require the entry of free text when using the following two reason codes.
  • Reason code 210I – Emergency
  • Reason Code 600 – Other

How this impacts providers: Due to these changes, program providers, FMSAs and CDS employers are no longer required to enter any missing clock in and clock out time in the free text field.

HHSC revised the EVV Compliance Policy to include the removal of the EVV required free text reviews. The revised EVV Compliance Policy will be included in the updated EVV Policy Handbook scheduled to be published on December 1, 2023.

Next step for Providers: Providers should share this communication with their staff.

If you have any questions, please email Provider Relations at: providerrelations@texaschildrens.org.

For access to all provider alerts,log into:
www.thecheckup.org or www.texaschildrenshealthplan.org/for-providers.