Tag - texas health steps

Provider Alert!

Provider Alert! Texas Health Steps Quick Reference Guide Updated for March 2022

Date: April 7, 2022 Attention: Primary Care Providers Providers should monitor the Texas Children’s Health Plan (TCHP) Provider Portal regularly for alerts and updates associated with the COVID-19 event.  TCHP reserves the right to update and/or change this information without prior notice due to the evolving nature of the COVID-19 event. TCHP will apply updates and reprocess impacted claims as soon as possible. However, please allow up to sixty (60) business days for reprocessing. Providers are not required to appeal claims...

Provider Alert!

Provider Alert! New Autism Services Benefit for Medicaid Recipients

Date: January 28, 2022 Attention: Primary Care Providers, Developmental Pediatricians, and Neurologists Effective Date: February 1, 2022 Providers should monitor the Texas Children’s Health Plan (TCHP) Provider Portal regularly for alerts and updates associated to the COVID-19 event.  TCHP reserves the right to update and/or change this information without prior notice due to the evolving nature of the COVID-19 event. Call to action: Effective for dates of service on or after February 1, 2022, Autism Services, to include Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) evaluation...

Provider Alert!

Provider Alert! Well Child and Texas Health Steps Visit reminder

Date: November 22, 2021 Attention: PCP, OB/GYN and Endocrinologist Providers Call to action: Texas Children’s Health Plan (TCHP) would like to remind you of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) HEDIS Technical Specifications. How this impacts providers: Please submit all claims timely, as soon as services are rendered, and use appropriate codes to reflect the services provided particularly for Well-Care Visits and THSteps. Well-Child Visits in the First 30 Months of Life (W30) Two rates will be measured: Well-Child Visits in the First 15 Months: Six...

Provider Alert!

Provider Alert! Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Release of Autism Services Benefits

Date: October 20, 2021 Attention: Primary Care Providers and Neurologists Effective Date: February 1, 2022 Providers should monitor the Texas Children’s Health Plan (TCHP) Provider Portal regularly for alerts and updates associated to the COVID-19 event.  TCHP reserves the right to update and/or change this information without prior notice due to the evolving nature of the COVID-19 event. Call to action: Effective for dates of service on or after February 1, 2022, Autism Services, to include Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) evaluation and treatment, will...

Provider Alert!

Provider Alert! Initial specialty therapy evaluations no longer require an authorization but do require current Texas Health Steps checkup or attestation

Date: September 19, 2019 Attention: All Providers Subject:  Amended:  Initial and Ongoing Specialty Therapy Treatment- Current Texas Health Steps Checkup or Attestation required Effective Date: September 19, 2019 Call to action: Initial specialty therapy (occupational, physical, speech therapy) evaluations do not require prior authorization effective September 1, 2019. However, a current Texas Health Steps checkup performed in the last 12 months or a current well checkup attestation is required for ongoing specialty therapy lasting for greater than 60 days. How this impacts...

Update to Children’s Services Handbook THSteps Medical Checkups

Note: Texas Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) must provide all medically necessary, Medicaid-covered services to eligible clients. Administrative procedures such as prior authorization, pre-certification, referrals, and claims/encounter data filing may differ from traditional Medicaid (fee-for-service) and from MCO to MCO. Providers should contact the client's specific MCO for details. Beginning February 1, 2019, TMHP will update the Texas Medicaid Provider Procedures Manual, Volume 2, Children’s Services Handbook, subsection 5.3.6 “Texas Health Steps Medical Checkups,” to remove the referral indicator requirement and...

Texas Health Steps Medical Checkup Periodicity Schedule

The  Texas Health Steps Medical Checkup Periodicity Schedule for infants, children, and adolescents (birth through 20 years of age) specifies when each age-specific checkup is due and which checkup components are required. The periodicity schedule is posted on the Texas Health Steps website and is updated when policy changes are made which affect checkup components or the ages at which checkup components are required.  A Texas Health Steps Checkup is complete only if it documents all required components or if the...

Training for Providers on Child Development Screening and Surveillance

The Child Developmental Screening and Surveillance web training is available on the Texas Health Steps Online Provider Education website: http://www.txhealthsteps.com/. The goal of this module is to equip Texas Health Steps providers and others with the skills to conduct developmental surveillance and screening during preventive medical checkups for children birth through 6 years; use approved screening tools; make appropriate referrals; and coordinate care in the primary care setting. Continuing education units are available for physicians, nurses, social workers, and Certified Health Education...

HHSC Notice! THSteps Documentation Improvement

Dear Texas Health Steps Provider: CHARLES SMITH EXECUTIVE COMMISSIONER As a Texas Health Steps (THSteps) provider, you affect the lives of many young Texans, and the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) understands documenting the THSteps components of the checkup can be challenging. One federal and two state contracted reviews of medical records have shown that missing documentation is the largest factor and the primary cause of records being reviewed and money being recouped. HHSC would like to assist you in documenting all...

Texas Health Steps Checkup Documentation — Essential to Medical Records

As a Texas Health Steps (THSteps) provider you affect the lives of many young Texans. The care you provide helps prevent serious or chronic health-care problems and often helps young patients begin to develop positive lifelong health-care habits. Being a THSteps provider can be very rewarding. It can also be very challenging, especially when it comes to medical checkup documentation. Independent studies of THSteps medical checkups indicate that records were most commonly missing documentation of appropriate laboratory tests and immunizations.   THSteps...