“Exciting News” Released This Morning from DBHDS

October 06, 2021

It was announced this morning that a new “system” for connection with the Office of Licensing (OL) which has been under development for some time to replace the OLIS system will go live in four weeks.  The system is planned to allow/require providers to electronically submit all required paperwork including applications, renewals, modifications, corrective action plans and variances through a web portal that will also require all of the supporting documentation and paperwork to be uploaded .  It was also announced that OL will no longer accept paper applications, renewals or service modification requests after 5pm on 18 October, twelve business days prior to “go live.”

We have asked what appeared to be the obvious question when a new “system” is rolled out which will directly impact many aspects of provider operations and business sustainability; how was end-user testing conducted and what were the outcomes.  As we were unaware of any provider (public or private) engagement we assumed that none had been conducted.  We received the following from DBHDS:

 

“You are correct regarding opportunities for testing. We are spending a significant amount of time training our team on how to use the new system, we will be providing training to providers as well. There will be a Help Desk established to assist with provider issues, concerns, or problems. In addition, there will be opportunities to correct any issues after go-live.“

There are, in addition, a number of concerns about the temporary operational changes listed which we will be exploring further in the next few weeks.  On the bright side, they have announced several positive changes:

• This will expedite the receipt of criminal background checks,
• This is the “system” that will allow a more nuanced approach to the citations for late reporting, and
• The number of “care concern” categories is being reduced from five to two.