Occupational Therapy

 

Occupational therapy – the functional evaluation of the student and the planning and utilization of a program of purposeful activities to develop or maintain adaptive skills designed to achieve maximal physical and mental functioning of the student in daily life tasks.

 

To claim Medicaid reimbursement, providers must abide by the following:

 

·         Services must be listed on IEP.

·         Occupational therapy orders must be signed and dated by a NYS licensed and registered physician, physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner and must indicate that services should be delivered as indicated on the IEP.  Orders exist for the life of the IEP (see Appendix A).

·         Occupational therapy may be provided by a NYS licensed and registered occupational therapist (OT) or by an occupational therapy assistant (OTA) under the direct supervision of a NYS licensed and registered OT (Article 156).

·         The NYS licensed OT must sign all service provider sheets, whether delivering the service directly or providing supervision to an OTA.

·         There should be at least quarterly progress notes prepared by the service provider and signed by the NYS licensed physical therapist occupational therapist (updated 10/17/05).  We recommend use of the progress notes sent home to parents (Part 200 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education). Refer to page 11 for documentation requirements.

·         For OTA, Article 156 Section 7906 (6) requires that documentation of direct supervision of an OTA be maintained.  The following are some examples of ways to document the required supervision of OTA:

 

·         Sign and date the treatment plan.

·         Sign and date the monthly service sheet used for Medicaid billing.

·         Sign and date evaluations and assessment documents that are used to determine the method of treatment.

·         Sign and date the progress notes completed by the assistants.

·         Review, sign and date the weekly service notes.

·         Performance appraisals and evaluation of the assistants signed and dated by the therapist.

 

The credentials of the occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants should be kept on file.

 

Codes and Fees:       

 

SSHSP Monthly Fee

5330

$ 422

PSHSP Individual Monthly Fee

5333

$ 299

PSHSP Center based Monthly Fee

5325

 $ 397