Using NPA Works Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 1! of 17!
Table of Contents Creating an Appointment 3 Locking Your Schedule 9 Entering Blue Appointments 10 Canceling Appointments 12 Staff Cancellations 12 Client Cancellations 12 Problem Solving 14 Missing Client Service Options 14 Orange Appointments - Finding the Problem 15 Orange Appointments - Allowing Overlaps 16 Orange Appointments - Funding Issues 17 Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 2! of 17!
Creating an Appointment Log into NPA by visiting: ablspartners.codemetro.com/ Once you have logged in to NPA with your user name and password, you will see a screen similar to the one below: In the top left corner, you will see a menu similar to the one below. You are looking to click the calendar option with the green pin. Clicking this button will pull up a new window which displays your weekly schedule. This is where you will enter all client appointments and billable program development work to be reviewed by the administrative team. Reminder: Each week you are responsible for submitting your hours using NPA Works. Your hours must be entered before midnight on Sunday AND on the last day of each month. You will submit your hours by entering and rendering appointments in your schedule. Once this is done, you will lock your schedule to indicate that it is complete. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 3! of 17!
Your weekly schedule will show up on screen similar to the one below: To created a new appointment, look to the right side of the screen. You will see a white box with a green plus. Clicking this will open up the window that allows you to create a new appointment. At the top of your appointment screen, enter the date and times when the appointment occurred. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 4! of 17!
Once you have entered the date and time, click the Service Actions tab at the top of the screen. Then in the top right corner, click Select This will open up a list of services that you are authorized to bill for, similar to the one below. Please note this screen can look slightly different depending on your level of access to NPA. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 5! of 17!
Your Authorized Services list will include a list of all services that you are currently authorized to bill for, sorted alphabetically by the client s last name. Select the appropriate service from the list then click OK in the bottom right. IMPORTANT: ALWAYS ensure that you are selecting the proper service. For Behavior Technicians the service will always be DS or EID under the Service Column. Behavior Technicians should NOT select a client if the service is listed as anything else, unless specifically told to do so by a supervisor. Occasionally you will see a client listed twice. Select the option with DS or EID listed in the service section. Contact Human Resources if you see services listed other than DS or EID on your Authorized Services page so that we can correct the problem. Troubleshooting: If you do not see the client in your list, please see the Problem Solving section of this document. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 6! of 17!
Once you have selected the appropriate service from the list and clicked OK, NPA Works will automatically fill in the client information to your appointment. Click the General option at the top of the Appointment box to be taken back to the original screen. In the appointment screen you will now see the subject line filled in the the appropriate information for the service you rendered. Double check the date, start time, and end time for the client. Note: In the bottom left corner there is a Pay Code drop box. This should be set to your default pay code depending on your employment status (Salary or Hourly). In the event that you need to change the pay code, do so now. NPA will reset your pay code if you change it before selecting the service as described above. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 7! of 17!
Under the Office Notes please enter any driving that you did for the client. You MUST document your mileage here if you want to be reimbursed for your travel mileage. Also include any information you may need to document including any incidents or important information for the administrative team. Full Time Staff: Once you have filled out your office notes, in the bottom right corner, enter your total mileage for the session, if any. If you have no mileage to report, leave the number as zero. Note: See the staff handbook for the ABLS policy on staff mileage reimbursement. Full-Time employees are eligible for reimbursement. Part-Time employees are not eligible for mileage reimbursement. Once you have filled in and double checked all of the information, check the box for Service has been rendered. on the lower right side of the Appointment screen, then click on OK. You will now see your weekly schedule with the appointment you created in dark green at the time you entered. Repeat this process for all of your appointments for the week. Note: After you create each appointment, click the save button in the bottom right corner of your weekly schedule screen. NPA can glitch up at times and this will prevent you from having to reenter your schedule if something goes wrong. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 8! of 17!
Locking Your Schedule After you have entered all of your appointments into your schedule for the week, ensure that you have saved your schedule by clicking the save button in the bottom right corner. Before you lock your schedule, ensure that you have run a check on the appointments and that there are no issues with your schedule for the week. Do this by clicking the green check box in the lower right corner of your weekly schedule, next to the save button. If there are errors found, trouble shoot them using the Problem Solving section of this document. If you are unable to find a solution, contact your supervising BCBA and Human Resources for assistance. Once you have checked for errors, look on the right side of your weekly schedule screen. Below the calendar you will see a section for Submit Time & Lock with the option of Staff and a drop down menu. Click on the lock icon next to the staff option. This will open a Set Schedule Lock menu. Change the Date of Period End to the appropriate date. This will either be the Sunday following the week you ve entered, OR the last day of each month. Change the date of period end, then click I affirm this statement option. Note: After locking your schedule you will be unable to make any changes to it before the lock date. Ensure that your schedule is accurate and complete before locking it for the week. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 9! of 17!
Entering Blue Appointments Blue appointments should be used if you are using PTO, there are errors in your schedule, such as indicated in the Problem Solving section of this document, and for billable program development hours. For information regarding what counts as billable program development, please contact your BCBA supervisor for a list of things you can and can not bill for based on your current position within the company. Blue appointments are also used to indicated any instance of SICK, PERSONAL, and VACATION time, as well as HOLIDAYS and EMERGENCY DAYS if indicated by the administrative team. To get started with a blue appointment, follow the same process as creating an appointment above by clicking the white box with a green plus from the side of your screen, and selecting the date and times of the appointment from the General tab that opens. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 10! of 17!
Under the Subject line of this screen, fill in the appropriate subject for the type of appointment you are creating: - For Program Development appointments: - PD - BCBA Name - What You Did - For Vacation/Holiday/Personal/Sick: - Type of Time i.e. Vacation - For errors with green appointments: - See Problem Solving for specific guidelines. If you are using a blue appointment to indicate a holiday, sick time, vacation time, ect. you MUST change your pay code. Do this by clicking the drop down box in the bottom left of the screen and selecting the appropriate pay code for the type of time you are using. Note: ALL holidays, time off, and emergency days MUST be documented in 4 or 8 hour blocks, as appropriate. This will typically be from 8:00AM-12:00PM, 12:00PM - 4:00PM, or 8:00AM-4:00PM. If you are using a blue appointment to indicate that you have done program development time: under the Office Notes section you must indicate the type or program development that you ve done. Consult your BCBA supervisor with any question on what and how to document any program development time that you are doing for a specific student. Once you are done, the appointment should look similar to the example shown. Once you are done, click the OK button in the bottom left corner and save your schedule. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 11! of 17!
Canceling Appointments Appointments may be canceled by either the client or direct staff for various reasons. When a session is canceled it is important to indicate the type of cancelation that has occurred. Cancelations fall into either a Staff Cancellation or Client Cancellation. Staff Cancellations In the event that you have canceled a session, you will need to use some form of PTO. This can include vacation time, sick time, personal time, holidays, and emergency days. If this is the case, you should delete the green appointment from your schedule for the day you used PTO and replace it with an appropriate blue appointment as described in the Blue Appointments section. Note that any staff cancelations using PTO will need to be used in 4-hour or 8-hour blocks. Client Cancellations In the event that a client cancels a session for any reason, you will need to indicate the appropriate type of cancelation under the appointment for that client. To start you will need to determine the type of funding source for your client. This is typically indicated in the treatment plan, however you can find this information by clicking on the Service Actions tab and looking at the Contract line of the information. If the client is funded through a school the Contract will indicate the name of a school. If the client is funded through insurance the Contract will indicate one of our accepted insurance providers. If the client is an early intervention case the Contract will indicate the name of an early intervention group. Once you have determined the type of contract the client has with ABLS you can begin. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 12! of 17!
To cancel the appointment, start by opening the Appointment screen for the service you need to cancel. You will see a Status option that is by default set to ACTIVE. You will see the following options: - CANC: Client Cancellation <24 School - CANC: Client Cancellation >24 - CANC: Insurance Cancellation - CANC: Early Intervention If your client is funded through a school district and the cancelation is LESS THAN 24 hours before the session, select Client Cancellation <24 School If your client is funded through a school district and the cancelation is MORE THAN 24 hours before the session, select Client Cancellation >24 If your client is funded through insurance, regardless of the time of cancelation, select Insurance Cancellation. If your client is funded through an early intervention provider, regardless of the time of cancelation, select Early Intervention. This will automatically change the subject line of the appointment. Click OK in the bottom right corner of the Appointment menu. The appointment will then appear as black in your weekly schedule, to show that it was canceled. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 13! of 17!
Problem Solving NPA Works is not without its own set of problems and challenges. Common problems that may occur include orange appointments, overlapping appointments with another employee, and students missing from your client services list. Below you will find a list of the most common errors that pop up and how to address them. Missing Client Service Options When you are creating an appointment, you will go into the Service Actions tab click select. This will display a list of authorized services for you to select. Occasionally, the service, or client, you are looking for will not be shown on this list. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 14! of 17!
If you are unable to find your client you should email the BCBA supervising the case and include the following in the email: - Student Name - Type of service - Date of appointment - Start and End time for the appointment Your BCBA will add in the appointment for you. You will then need to go back into the appointment and add in your mileage and any office notes you need before rendering the appointment as completed. This will also add the client service to your Authorized Services list going forward. This error is most common for new staff and when starting with a new client. It also occurs when a student has a new treatment plan or billing contract implemented and the one you have previously been using has expired. Orange Appointments - Finding the Problem When you are entering your schedule, you should be checking for errors with the green check mark button in the lower right corner of your weekly schedule screen. NPA Works will occasionally find an error in your billing. This appointments are highlighted in orange and an error message will pop up on your screen. You will NOT be able to lock your schedule while you have an orange appointment on your weekly schedule. The first step in trouble shooting an orange appointment is to find the type of error. When an error occurs, NPA will pop up a box describing the error. The two most common errors are shown below: Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 15! of 17!
If the description indicates Unauthorized overlapping STUDENT appointment then see Allowing Overlaps. If the description indicated The appointment date is after the end of funding. see Funding Issues Orange Appointments - Allowing Overlaps Find the orange appointment on your weekly schedule and open up the Appointment screen by double clicking the orange appointment. On the left side, midway down the screen you will see a check box for Allow overlapping client appointments. Click this box, click OK, then check your schedule for errors again. This will turn the appointment light green. Remember to mark the service as rendered before moving on with your schedule. This error is most common when BCBA s are overlapping with you for supervision during a case. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 16! of 17!
Orange Appointments - Funding Issues If your appointment indicates issues with funding on the error description, you need to change the appointment to a blue appointment. Delete the orange appointment and follow the steps to create a blue appointment shown earlier in this document. The subject like for this appointment should be as follows: - Student Name - Your Name - Type of Service - Time of Appointment For example, if you are entering a direct service hour for John Smith the appointment will say - John Smith - Your Name - DS - 10:00AM - 11:00AM Note: Be sure to also include your mileage and any office notes needed for the session. After you have created your blue appointment, check your schedule for any more errors. Once you are done rendering your schedule for the week, follow up with an email to human resources and the administrative team indicating the student you are having problems billing for, so that we can address the issue as quickly as possible. This email follow up is extremely important. Applied Behavioral Learning Services Page 17! of 17!