From Mike Hermanson, MT Vocational Rehabilitation and Blind Services:
Montana info: 60 days is what we have set for an IPE. Most other forms cannot be backdated at all (this includes DLOs, certification of eligibility, closures). I am not sure about the financial.
From David Ritacco, Oregon VR:
The only backdating we allow is for employment to accurately reflect employment date.
From David Higginbotham, Louisiana Rehabilitation Services:
LRS does not have any guidelines regarding the backdating of case notes. A case that is pulled for review may have a total of 6 months of service following the implementation of the IPE. The case appears to document the provision of vocational guidance and counseling during service delivery (i.e. three contacts with the consumer); however, the notes were entered on the Closure date. The most discouraging aspect is that these case notes are most likely fiction. A case note entered on 08/31/15 cannot accurately reflect the guidance and counseling provided on 02/28/15. This also tells me that all the agency did for this person was to provide case management services (i.e. make a referral; pay the bills). The case did not document that the agency provided any service coordination (i.e. no contact with vendors and follow-up with the person) or actually provided a vocational guidance and counseling. WIOA downgraded the position of Rehabilitation Counselor to Case Manager. If we do not provide a professional level of vocational guidance and counseling and document provision of the service in a timely manner, than we are intentionally pursuing provision of an inferior product and the downgrade in status of the Counselor was warranted.
From Lynn Ritter, Florida Blind Services:
We do not backdate.
From Warren Granfor, ND VR:
We allow backdates up to 7 days for application, trial work, eligibility, and plans. We allow backdates up to 90 days for employment. We allow 0 (zero) days for backdating a closure. We do not allow any of these dates to be backdated prior to Oct. 1. Therefore, on Sept. 30 everyone better have their cases up to date and their ducks in a row! (As the system admin, I do have the ability to override any of these rules.) It remains to be seen if any of our rules will change once we start quarterly 911 reporting.
From Jill Warzecha, CT Blind:
CT Blind allows VR Counselors to back date status changes for 30 days within a reporting quarter. We only allow for back dating 10 days into a previous fiscal quarter once the quarter is over. These restrictions are controlled by settings within our case management system. Only allowing the counselors to backdate 10 days into a previous fiscal quarter allows us to keep a handle on changes that will impact the reporting on the RSA-113. We send an email to all counselors during the third month of the fiscal quarter reminding them to check their caseload list and ensure that all clients are in the appropriate status for their VR program. Then an additional reminder is sent on the last day of the fiscal quarter to notify them that they have 10 days to verify that their client statuses are current so that the RSA113 can be run and submitted.
From Victoria Drake, Department of Rehab Oklahoma:
As a case file auditor for compliance I believe that there should be tighter rules for backdating and adding information to notes/narratives prior to closure to meet the audit questions. I see this done all the time. Especially at application with SS cases. It is not as bad as it used to be, but it is still done.
From Tim Gravier, MO DVR:
Missouri VR has adopted a policy of “No backdating past the beginning of each quarter.”
From Richard Clark, Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services:
We have had backdating policies in place for several years now and it has always been based on when the document was actually signed, so you could not go back beyond that date. With that said we have always shared that if it is more than 30 days it must go through the Chief. At first there was some complaints but it did not last very long as the counselors just adjusted to it.
Posted in: Policies