﻿<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>Leaderservices.com NewsWire</title><link>~/rss/index.aspx</link><description>The latest headlines and articles from Leaderservices.com</description><copyright>(c) 2009, Leaderservices.com. All rights reserved.</copyright><ttl>5</ttl><item><title>CA Schools Boards Association Annual Education Conference and Trade Show</title><description>&lt;p&gt;Leader Services will have a display at the following upcoming conference:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="layouttable"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td width="20%" class="fieldlabel_right"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Show:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;h2&gt;CSBA: CA Schools Boards Association&lt;/h2&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://aec.csba.org/Home.aspx"&gt;Annual Education Conference and Trade Show&lt;br /&gt;
        &lt;/a&gt;Moscone Convention Center&lt;br /&gt;
        San Francisco, CA&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td class="fieldlabel_right"&gt;&lt;p&gt;When we'll be exhibiting:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;December 2-3, 2010&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td class="fieldlabel_right"&gt;&lt;p&gt;What you can see:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="/services/ca/maa.aspx"&gt;Medi-Cal Administration Activities MAA)&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="/services/ca/leabilling.aspx"&gt;LEA Billing Option Services&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Stop by our booth and learn more!&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=120&amp;ts=-1</link><author /><pubDate>07/09/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>EPaSEAC: Eastern PA Special Education Administrators' Conference</title><description>&lt;p&gt;Leader Services will have a display at the following upcoming conference:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="layouttable"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td width="20%" class="fieldlabel_right"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Show:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;h2&gt;EPaSEAC: Eastern PA Special Education Administrators' Conference&lt;/h2&gt;
      &lt;p&gt;Hershey Lodge and Convention Center&lt;br /&gt;
        Hershey, PA&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td class="fieldlabel_right"&gt;&lt;p&gt;When we'll be exhibiting:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;October 27-28, 2010&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td class="fieldlabel_right"&gt;&lt;p&gt;What you can see:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.leaderservices.com/software/iepwriter.aspx"&gt;IEPWriter&lt;/a&gt; and the following modules: Children Count (Penn Data reporting), Early Intervention, Section 504, PITP, and PIMS.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Stop by our booth and learn more!&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=119&amp;ts=-1</link><author /><pubDate>07/09/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>NASDSE: National Association of State Directors of Special Education</title><description>&lt;p&gt;Leader Services will have a display at the following upcoming conference:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="layouttable"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td width="20%" class="fieldlabel_right"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Show:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nasdse.org/"&gt;NASDSE: National Association of State Directors of Special Education&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
        Sheraton Music City Hotel&lt;br /&gt;
        Nashville, TN&lt;br /&gt;
      &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td class="fieldlabel_right"&gt;&lt;p&gt;When we'll be exhibiting:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;October 16-19, 2010&lt;br /&gt;
      &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td class="fieldlabel_right"&gt;&lt;p&gt;What you can see:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our Compliance Monitoring solution for state and local education agencies, &lt;a href="http://www.acmontheweb.com/"&gt;Advanced Compliance Monitoring (ACM)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Stop by our booth and learn more!&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=116&amp;ts=-1</link><author /><pubDate>06/02/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>Online registration for PA Fall 2010 SBAP/Admin Claiming Trainings</title><description /><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=122&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>08/03/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>Dates and locations for the WA Fall 2010 Medicaid Reimbursement Training Sessions announced</title><description>&lt;p&gt;The dates and times for the WA Fall 2010 Medicaid Reimbursement Training Sessions are below. Registration is not required.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 style="text-align:center;"&gt;Dates, Locations, and Times&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align:center;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;All training times are 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="/services/wa/docs/Driving_directions_Fall_trainings_2010-2011.pdf"&gt;Driving directions (PDF file)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table style="margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; border:1px #999 solid; padding:4px;"&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;th class="tblhead1" style="padding:5px; margin:0px;"&gt;Date&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;th class="tblhead1" style="padding:5px; margin:0px;"&gt;Location&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday, Sept. 28th&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Wenatchee&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
    Comfort Inn&lt;br /&gt;
    815 North Wenatchee Ave.&lt;br /&gt;
    Wenatchee&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday, Sept 29th&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Yakima&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
    Holiday Inn&lt;br /&gt;
    802 East Yakima Ave.&lt;br /&gt;
    Yakima&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thursday, Sept. 30th&lt;strong&gt;   &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pasco&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
    Pasco School District&lt;br /&gt;
    C. Booth Ed. Service Center&lt;br /&gt;
    1215 W. Lewis Street&lt;br /&gt;
    Pasco&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Friday, Oct. 1st&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spokane&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
    ESD 101 Regal Center&lt;br /&gt;
    4202 South Regal Street&lt;br /&gt;
    Spokane&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Monday, Oct 4th&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Anacortes&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
    Northwest ESD 189&lt;br /&gt;
    1601 R. Ave.&lt;br /&gt;
    Anacortes&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tuesday, Oct. 5th&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Paulsbo&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
    North Kitsap School District&lt;br /&gt;
    18360 Caldart Avenue NE&lt;br /&gt;
    Poulsbo&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday, Oct 6th&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Renton&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;
    Renton School District&lt;br /&gt;
    300 SW Seventh Street&lt;br /&gt;
    Renton&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thursday, Oct 7th&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Kelso&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
    Kelso  School District&lt;br /&gt;
    601 Crawford Street&lt;br /&gt;
    Kelso&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Friday, Oct 8th&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Olympia&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
    ESD 113&lt;br /&gt;
    601 McPhee Rd. SW&lt;br /&gt;
    Olympia&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=121&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>07/15/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>Clarifying Current SBAP Issues - Webinar and Slides</title><description>&lt;p&gt;The Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) and Leader Services  held a webinar on May 26 to review recent changes in the PA School-Based ACCESS Program (SBAP). Webinar hosts Roni Russell, PaTTAN's Educational Consultant, and Gloria Grego, Leader Services' Director of PA Medicaid School-Based Programs, explained the current issues and fielded questions from school entities and service providers. Click on the links below to view the Webinar presentation and to obtain printable copies of the slides used in the presentation and questions and answers resulting from the webinar.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size:10pt;"&gt;
&lt;div style="float:left; padding:8px; text-align:center;"&gt;
&lt;a href="mms://pattanwc1.pattan.net/files/windows/2010/may/school_based_access_5_26_10.wmv"&gt;&lt;img src="/_images/webinar05262010/presentation.jpg" alt="Presentation" width="200" height="133" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="mms://pattanwc1.pattan.net/files/windows/2010/may/school_based_access_5_26_10.wmv"&gt;SBAP Current Issues &lt;br /&gt;
Webinar 5/26/10&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="float:left; padding:8px; text-align:center;"&gt;
&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/webinar05262010/PaTTAN_webinar_5-26-10_Slides.pdf"&gt;&lt;img src="/_images/webinar05262010/slides.jpg" alt="Slides" width="200" height="133" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/webinar05262010/PaTTAN_webinar_5-26-10_Slides.pdf"&gt;Webinar Slides&lt;br /&gt;
 for Review&lt;/a&gt; (PDF, 349kb)
&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;div style="float:left; padding:8px; text-align:center;"&gt;
&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/webinar05262010/PaTTAN_webinar_5-26-10_QA.pdf"&gt;&lt;img src="/_images/webinar05262010/questions.jpg" alt="Questions" width="200" height="133" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/webinar05262010/PaTTAN_webinar_5-26-10_QA.pdf"&gt;Questions and Answers&lt;br /&gt;
    from Webinar&lt;/a&gt; (PDF, 45kb)
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p style="clear:both"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For more information on this webinar or the SBAP, please &lt;a href="/services/pa/contact.aspx"&gt;contact an SBAP Account Manager&lt;/a&gt; today, or &lt;a href="/about/contact.aspx"&gt;fill out the form on our contact page&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=117&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>06/11/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>Webinar Training Announcement -  School Based Access Program: Updates and Reminders in Understanding the SBAP</title><description>&lt;table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" summary="layout table"&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Description:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;The School Based Access Program allows School Districts, MAWAs, Intermediate Units, Charter Schools, and Approved Private Schools to receive federal Medicaid funds for providing IEP health-related services to students receiving Medical Assistance (MA) and special education. Quality assurance is the key to maintaining an efficient and integrity driven program, and this is accomplished by self audit reviews, continuous documentation, and technical assistance from PDE and DPW resources.&lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;p&gt; This session will benefit all involved in the SBAP, especially the students. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Date and Time:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wednesday, May 26, 2010&lt;br /&gt;
    1:00 pm -2:30 pm&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;To register for the GoToWebinar, please click on the link provided:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.solutionwhere.com/pattan/cw/showcourse.asp?1447"&gt;http://www.solutionwhere.com/pattan/cw/showcourse.asp?1447&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;p&gt;After registering, you will receive instructions on how to access the Webinar. 
    For questions concerning registration, please contact Sharon Becker by email at &lt;a href="mailto:sbecker@pattan.net"&gt;sbecker@pattan.net&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Agenda:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;1:00-1:45 - Recent Memos&lt;br /&gt;
    1:45-2:00 - Quality Assurance&lt;br /&gt;
    2:00-2:30 - Questions/Answers&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Outcomes:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;Participants will:&lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Review recent &amp;quot;changes&amp;quot; Penn Links in regards to Medical Authorization, Impact of SBAP on Medical Assistance Services and Electronic Signatures&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Recognize the need for quality assurance, self audit reviews and continuous    documentation&lt;/li&gt;
    &lt;li&gt;Gain knowledge of resources available from Leader Services, PDE and DPW to assist with SBAP integrity and    efficiency &lt;/li&gt;
   &lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="vertical-align:top;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;System Requirements:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;In order to participant in a GoToWebinar event, the following requirements are necessary.&lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;PC-based attendees&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
    Required: Windows(R) 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista&lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Macintosh(R)-based attendees&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
    Required: Mac OS(R) X 10.4 (Tiger(R) or newer&lt;/p&gt;
   &lt;p&gt;For the audience, only speakers or earphones are needed. The tech support number for Go To Webinar is 1-800-263-6317, if you have difficulty logging onto the webinar. No pre-webinar downloads are required.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align:center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;*No credit will be offered for attending this webinar*&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=115&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>05/03/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>Effort to rescind the parental consent requirement for school-based health services</title><description>&lt;p&gt;The Local Education Agency Network, or &lt;a href="http://www.theleanet.com/"&gt;LEAnet&lt;/a&gt;, is coordinating a nationwide effort by schools to rescind the parental consent requirement for school-based health services that schools are mandated to provide to students with IEPs.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Participants in school-based Medicaid reimbursement programs have seen the effect of the parental consent requirement. According to LEAnet, this federal regulation&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt; has “destroyed programs seeking Medicaid reimbursement for covered services provided pursuant to an IEP.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At this time of dwindling budgets, it’s more important than ever that schools have the funding required to provide these federally-mandated services, and this requirement serves as an impediment that should be removed. Please join schools nationwide that are contacting the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and asking him to rescind this requirement. A sample message that you can send:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
 &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;“To the Honorable Arne Duncan:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
 &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Please rescind the parental consent regulation for school-based Medicaid reimbursement.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
 &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Sincerely,&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
 &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Your name&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  &lt;em&gt;Your title&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  &lt;em&gt;Your school district&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
  &lt;em&gt;City, State”&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Secretary Duncan's can be contacted through the following:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; E-mail:  arne.duncan@ed.gov&lt;br /&gt;
 Fax:        (202) 260-7867&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Please don’t hesitate – now is the time to join your voice with education agencies across the country.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;References:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
 &lt;li&gt;34 CFR §300.154(d)(2)(iv)(A)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=113&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>04/21/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>Gregory Morris joins Leader Services as National Consultant</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/_images/Greg_Morris.jpg" alt="Greg Morris" width="200" height="271" border="0" style="padding-right:15px; padding-bottom: 15px; float:left;" /&gt;WEST HAZLETON, PA, April 2 &amp;#8212; Leader Services is proud to announce that Gregory Morris has joined the company as a National Consultant.  In his new role, Greg will assist the company in expanding its national presence and will provide support for Leader’s existing business. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Greg is an attorney with more than 30 years of practice in public policy law, and has been a specialist in special education and Medicaid reimbursement issues for the last 17 years. He has served as a school Medicaid consultant to the New Mexico Coalition of School Administrators, the State of Wyoming Department of Education, the Ohio School Coalition, is the former Executive Director of &lt;a href="http://www.theleanet.com/"&gt;LEAnet&lt;/a&gt; and currently serves as Advisor to the LEAnet board, and has worked with a variety of other state government and LEA entities. Greg has taught political science at the undergraduate and graduate university levels.
  He drafted the Request For Proposals (RFP) for Alabama's first Medicaid billing program. Working with the Nebraska Association of School Boards, Greg developed Nebraska's first Medicaid Administrative Claiming program. In California, he served for a year as Chairman of former Governor Deukmejian's Efficiency Task Force, which overhauled the state's health budget.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition, Greg has represented a variety of clients as a registered lobbyist in several states, co-authored a book on the use of computers in public policy management, and held a variety of minor local, regional, and federal elected and appointed offices. He is a frequent presenter on Medicaid in the Schools at state and national conferences.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;We are very pleased to have Greg join us,&amp;quot; said Leader CEO C. Jeffrey Mason. &amp;quot;Leader Services is committed to improving the quality of education for our nation’s youth, and Greg’s experience demonstrates his dedication to schools and school-based Medicaid programs. He also brings with him a national reputation as a leader in establishing federal policy in this area.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;It has been my pleasure to work with Leader in a number of capacities since 1998 and I am excited about the opportunity to become a full-time member of their team,&amp;quot; said Greg. &amp;quot;This is a company with a solid foundation and great vision for the future.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Greg holds a J.D. from the University of Santa Clara College of Law, where he was co-Outstanding Graduate, and a B.A. with Honors from Stanford University. He served as a law clerk with the California Supreme Court, completed graduate level coursework in public administration at the University Of Santa Clara School Of Business, and is a graduate of the Public Affairs Council Institute. He has been admitted to practice in California and the District Court for the Northern District of California since 1974 and has practiced pro hac vice in Nevada, New York, and Illinois.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;About Leader Services&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Leader Services is a division of LDP Inc., an information technology company providing solutions to the needs of business, government, and member organizations since 1968. In 2010, we celebrated our 42nd year. Leader Services is dedicated to making information processing easier for education professionals at state and local education agencies, and providing web-based applications and information processing services that turn complex tasks into effective solutions.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=112&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>04/14/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>School-Based ACCESS Program Services and use of Electronic Signatures</title><description>&lt;p&gt;In March, 2010, John J. Tommasini, Director of the Bureau of Special Education, Pennsylvania Department of Education, released the following memo regarding the use of electronic signatures in the School-Based ACCESS Program:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/forms/pde/SBAP_esignatures_03-2010.pdf"&gt;PDE memo: School-Based ACCESS Program Services and use of Electronic Signatures&lt;/a&gt; (PDF, 23kb)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Further information can be found in the April 2010 issue of &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/newsletter.aspx"&gt;SBAP News&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=114&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>03/31/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>PA School-Based ACCESS Program: Important Notice regarding Medical Authorization</title><description>&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.leaderservices.com/services/pa/forms/pde/document2010-01-29-151450.pdf"&gt;Important Notice regarding Medical Authorization (PDF file)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.leaderservices.com/services/pa/forms/pde/PennLink-MedAuth.pdf"&gt;PennLink (PDF file)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=110&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>02/10/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>Memo from BSE Director to Pennsylvania LEAs  re: Impact of School-Based ACCESS Program Services on Medical Assistance  Services</title><description>&lt;p&gt;The following memo was released on Jan. 15, 2010 from John Tommasini, Director, Bureau of Special Education, Pennsylvania Department of Education, to School District Superintendents and other LEA staff:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.leaderservices.com/services/pa/forms/pde/BSE_SBAP_Jan2010.pdf"&gt;Impact of School-Based ACCESS Program Services on Medical Assistance  Services, Jan. 15, 2010&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=109&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>02/04/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>DPW memo re: Impact of School Based-ACCESS Program Services on Medical Assistance Services</title><description>&lt;p&gt;The below document is a memo dated Dec. 28, 2009 from Leesa M. Allen, Director, Bureau of Policy, Budget and Planning, Department of Public Welfare (DPW) to John Tommasini,  Director, Bureau of Special Education, PA Department of Education (PDE), concerning the &amp;quot;Impact of School Based-ACCESS Program Services on Medical Assistance Services.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/forms/dpw/DPW_SBAP_memo_12-2009.pdf"&gt;Impact of School Based-ACCESS Program Services on Medical Assistance Services&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=108&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>01/18/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>Q and A from Fall SBAP Regionals</title><description>&lt;p&gt;The following Questions and Answers (Q&amp;amp;A) document is based on questions submitted at the 2009-2010 SBAP regional SBAP sessions. The list does not include every question that was submitted; rather, it addresses those questions that we believe will benefit the majority of our clients.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/fall2009/2009-10_SBAP_regionals_QandA.pdf"&gt;Download 2009-10 SBAP Regionals Q&amp;amp;A&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span class="small"&gt;(PDF file; requires free Adobe Reader or similar)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=107&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>01/04/2010</pubDate></item><item><title>PowerPoint presentation and handout from Fall Regionals 2009</title><description>&lt;p&gt;The following files used in the Fall 2009 Regional SBAP Trainings held in September and October 2009 can be downloaded by clicking the appropriate link:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table width="95%" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td colspan="3"&gt;&lt;h4&gt;Direct Services Program:&lt;/h4&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p style="padding-left:20px;"&gt;SBAP Presentation - Building Blocks to a Successful Program&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td style="width:20%;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/fall2009/SBAP_regional_09-10.ppt"&gt;Microsoft PowerPoint&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td style="width:20%;"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/fall2009/SBAP_regional_09-10.pdf"&gt;Adobe PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p style="padding-left:20px;"&gt;Medicaid Service Delivery and Claim Submission - Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW), Bureau of Program Integrity (BPI)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/fall2009/Notes_BPI_SBAP_Training_Building_Blocks_9-7-09.doc"&gt;Microsoft Word&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/fall2009/Notes_BPI_SBAP_Training_Building_Blocks_9-7-09.pdf"&gt;Adobe PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td colspan="3"&gt;&lt;h4&gt;Administrative Claiming Program:&lt;/h4&gt;
    &lt;/td&gt;

  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p style="padding-left:20px;"&gt;ACP Presentation 2009-10&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/fall2009/ACP_regional_09-10.ppt"&gt;Microsoft PowerPoint&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="/services/pa/presentations/fall2009/ACP_regional_09-10.pdf"&gt;Adobe PDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="small" style="text-align:center;"&gt;All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=98&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>09/16/2009</pubDate></item><item><title>CA LEA Billing Reimbursement Rate Increases Being Implemented</title><description>&lt;p&gt;In compliance with State Plan Amendment (SPA) 03-024, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) periodically updates LEA Billing Option Program’s reimbursement rates. DHCS directed Electronic Data Systems (EDS) to apply the following rate changes based on date of service:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;A 17.3% rate increase to claims processed for the 2006-2007 fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;A 5.88% rate increase to claims processed for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2007-June 30, 2008.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;A 3.04% rate increase to claims processed for the 2008-2009 fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;An additional rate increase will be applied to claims processed from Oct. 1, 2008-Sept. 30, 2009 to account for an 11.59% FMAP rate increase. These claims will be suspended until EDS can process the previous set of rate increases and apply the FMAP rate increase. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;span style="color:#999; font-size:10pt"&gt;Example: speech therapy treatment rate increase&lt;/span&gt;
&lt;table width="100%" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" style="font-size:10pt;"&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;th colspan="4" scope="col" style="background-color:#000; color:#FFF; text-align:left;"&gt;92507 TMGM &lt;/th&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Fiscal Year&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Initial Rate &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New Rate &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Increase&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;2006-2007&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;$49.09&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;$57.58 &lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;17.3%&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;2007-2008&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;$57.58&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;$60.97&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;5.88%&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;*2008-2009&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;$60.97&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;$62.82&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;3.04%&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td colspan="4" style="text-align:center"&gt;*Claims processed after Oct. 1, 2008 will receive an additional 11.59% increase due to an FMAP rate increase.&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
  &lt;tr&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;2009-2010&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;$62.82&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;unknown&lt;/td&gt;
    &lt;td&gt;unknown&lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Transportation, Mileage, TCM Services Excluded&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Special transportation, mileage, and targeted case management (TCM) services are excluded from the rate change requirement. However, a rate increase will be applied to claims processed from Oct. 1, 2008-Sept. 30, 2009 to account for the 11.59% FMAP rate increase. These claims will be suspended until EDS has made the appropriate interim rate changes to the system. EDS will handle rate inflations as Erroneous Payment Correction (EPC). &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Leader's CA LEA Billing clients may contact Account Manager Jennifer Demko at (800) 360-8511 with any questions.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=96&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>07/13/2009</pubDate></item><item><title>HHS Rescinds Medicaid Regulations</title><description>&lt;table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" style="font-size:10pt"&gt;
 &lt;tr&gt;
  &lt;td style="width:50%;"&gt;FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE&lt;br /&gt;
   Monday, June 29, 2009 &lt;/td&gt;
  &lt;td&gt;CONTACT: CMS Media Affairs Office&lt;br /&gt;
   (202) 690-6145&lt;/td&gt;
 &lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced that the administration will rescind all or part of three Medicaid regulations that were previously issued and delay the enforcement of a fourth regulation.  Each of these rules, in whole or in part, had been subject to Congressional moratoria set to expire on July 1, 2009.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“These regulations, if left in place would have potentially adverse consequences for Medicaid beneficiaries, some of our nation’s most vulnerable people,” said Secretary Sebelius.  “By rescinding these rules, we can expect that children will continue receiving services through their schools, beneficiaries will be able to access all available case management resources to help them better manage their health care, and outpatient hospital and clinic services can continue to be covered in the most efficient manner.”&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;“The actions we are taking today are necessary to ensure that the states have the flexibility they need to fully serve Medicaid-eligible individuals,” said Secretary Sebelius.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Centers for Medicare &amp;amp; Medicaid Services (CMS) and HHS today are:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Rescinding a final rule, published December 28, 2007, that would have eliminated reimbursement for school-based administrative costs and costs of transportation to and from schools.  The rescission reflects concern that the rule could limit the Medicaid administrative outreach activities of schools, and that the overall budgetary impact on schools could potentially impact their ability to offer Medicaid services to students.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Rescinding a rule, published November 7, 2008, that would have limited the outpatient hospital and clinic service benefit for Medicaid beneficiaries to the scope of services recognized as an outpatient hospital service under Medicare.  This rule was rescinded because CMS became aware that coverage beyond that scope could not be easily moved to other benefit categories, resulting in great impact than previously anticipated.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Rescinding provisions of an interim final rule published December 4, 2007, which would have restricted beneficiary access to case management services. These provisions appeared to, in practice, restrict beneficiary access to needed covered case management services, and limit state flexibility in determining efficient and effective delivery systems for case management services.&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Delaying until June 30, 2010, the enforcement of portions of a regulation that clarified limitations on health care related tax programs so that CMS could determine whether states need additional clarification or guidance.  CMS may also further review the potential impact of the regulation, and give additional consideration to alternative approaches.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p style="text-align:center;"&gt;# # #&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=94&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>06/30/2009</pubDate></item><item><title>IEPWriter.com Receives SIF Certification for fifth year</title><description>&lt;p&gt;Leader Services, an information processing and billing company with offices nationwide, announces that IEPWriter.com&lt;em&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&amp;trade;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/em&gt; and Children Count&lt;sup&gt;&amp;reg;&lt;/sup&gt; have received Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF) certification version 1.5 for the fifth year. SIF is a national standard that enables applications to seamlessly operate with and exchange data between other SIF-certified applications. SIF was developed by the  international &lt;a href="http://www.sifinfo.org/" target="_blank"&gt;Schools Interoperability  Framework Association&lt;/a&gt; (SIFA), a non-profit association that develops and implements software and programming standards for educational software and applications.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Software applications must apply for SIF recertification every year; IEPWriter and Children Count are certified through June 30, 2010.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Using SIF-certified software can be a huge advantage for local and state education agencies alike. Educational software that is SIF compliant can communicate and share data from a single source. As Jeff Eckhart, Leader’s senior director of software development, explains, “More of our customers are looking into the benefits of using SIF to  keep all of their student applications in synch without the need for duplicate entry. Leader remains committed to SIF and continues to support its function. We send our developers to SIFA meetings to stay up-to-date with its ever-changing standards and specifications.” &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Within SIFA, a number of work groups were created to address various aspects of SIF. Leader’s senior programmers Greg Blickley and Daryl Williams are members of the Special Programs Work Group (SPWG), which is responsible for maintaining and developing new data objects for the specification.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;About IEPWriter &lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Leader's IEPWriter.com  is a secure, hosted web application for special  education professionals used in over 300 LEAs to create IEPs and  related special education documents (evaluation reports, letters, and  more) from any computer, using common web browsers over a secure SSL  connection. Features include:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt; centralized management, allowing multiple  users to contribute to an IEP; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;a shared and customizable goals and  objectives library; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;documents generated in PDF format; school-wide  reporting; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;and a comprehensive form and letter-generating capability, from invitation letters to evaluation reports and more.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Its Children  Count module captures and tracks student and staff data to prepare  statistical reports for state and federal reporting. Other modules  available include Section 504 and PIMS.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;About Leader Services&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Leader  Services is a vanguard in special education software and services.  Headquartered in West Hazleton, PA, with satellite offices in Alameda,  Sacramento, and Temecula, CA; Harrisburg, PA; and Seattle, WA, Leader  Services provides custom web-based software and information management  services for school district, consortium, and state-level education  clients across the country. Leader's product line includes a number of  secure, web-based applications:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.iepwriter.com/"&gt;IEPWriter.com&lt;/a&gt;, a  web-based solution for generating, storing and tracking Individualized  Education Programs (IEPs) which automates reporting and expedites  compliance with federal and state regulations; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Children  Count, the IDEA Child Count data capture and reporting module of  IEPWriter.com which shares IEPWriter's student and staff database and  consolidates special education data capture, form generation, and  reporting; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.federalmonitor.com/"&gt;Federal Monitor&lt;/a&gt;™,  a web-based solution which allows states to monitor LEAs' use of  federal grant funding for No Child Left Behind and other initiatives; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.acmontheweb.com/"&gt;Advanced Compliance Monitoring&lt;/a&gt;™,  a state-level IDEA compliance monitoring solution designed to assist  states in meeting the needs of the Continuous Improvement and Focused  Monitoring System (CIFMS), a model developed by the federal Office of  Special Education Programs (OSEP) to ensure school district compliance  with IDEA 04 and IDEA reauthorizations; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;custom  systems in multiple states for Medicaid billing for medically necessary  IEP health-related services provided to MA-eligible special education  students;&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;and custom solutions for State Educational Agencies.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=92&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>05/28/2009</pubDate></item><item><title>CMS Admin Claiming and Transportation Rule to be Rescinded</title><description>&lt;p&gt;The office of the HHS Secretary (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) has announced that the following CMS regulations &lt;strong&gt;will be rescinded&lt;/strong&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;School-based administrative and transportation (CMS 2287)&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;In part, Targeted Case Management (CMS 2237)&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The rescission regulation &lt;a href="http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2009-10494_PI.pdf"&gt;is available on the Federal Register website (PDF document)&lt;/a&gt;. This regulation will establish a 30-day public comment period; the rescission of CMS 2287 would therefore occur before the June 30th deadline on the current moratorium. CMS 2287 would have eliminated Medicaid reimbursement for administrative claiming and transportation services provided by schools; the newly-proposed regulation will protect reimbursement for those services.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=91&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>05/04/2009</pubDate></item><item><title>U.S. Virgin Islands implements Advanced Compliance Monitoring solution</title><description>&lt;p&gt;Leader Services is pleased to add the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Department of Education as the newest client of Leader’s web-based compliance monitoring system, &lt;em&gt;Advanced Compliance Monitoring (ACM)&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;St. Croix and St. Thomas, two school districts in the Virgin Islands, began using the system in the fall of 2008. “The system has been operating successfully and is meeting our clients’ expectations,” said Programmer/Analyst George J. Schneider, the Leader project liaison for system implementation.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Using a web-based system, state education agencies and school districts conduct much of the compliance monitoring process online, which increases the efficiency of the monitoring process while saving on postal, printing, and other costs. Leader’s ACM system was customized to meet the unique needs of the Virgin Islands’ DOE.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;School districts use the system to respond to procedural questions and to compare their district data against state averages. They respond to student file review questionnaires, the results of which are rolled up districtwide and statewide for compliance review. The state education agency then creates corrective action plans for each district online, which the school districts review and address. This corrective action process continues until all issues are resolved. Among its other advantages, the application provides critical data required by the Annual Performance Reports (APR) and State Performance Plan (SPP); provides more effective and efficient communication with LEAs on necessary improvement areas; and eliminates the need to distribute complex client software across multiple platforms and environments.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Advanced Compliance Monitoring is a hosted, Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, mitigating the need for the overhead of dedicated servers and the need for additional information technology staff for clients. Leader Services has provided a compliance monitoring solution for the Pennsylvania Department of Education since 1997 (since 2001 on the web), and since 2007 for Missouri’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Division of Special Education. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;About Leader Services&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Leader Services is a vanguard in special education software and services. Headquartered in West Hazleton, PA, with satellite offices in Alameda, Sacramento, and Temecula, CA; Harrisburg, PA; and Seattle, WA, Leader Services provides custom web-based software and information management services for school district, consortium, and state-level education clients across the country. Leader's product line includes a number of secure, web-based applications:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul type="disc"&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.IEPWriter.com/"&gt;IEPWriter.com&lt;/a&gt;, a web-based  solution for generating, storing and tracking Individualized Education  Programs (IEPs) which automates reporting and expedites compliance with federal and state regulations; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;Children Count, the IDEA  Child Count data capture and reporting module of IEPWriter.com which  shares IEPWriter's student and staff database and consolidates special  education data capture, form generation, and reporting; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.federalmonitor.com/"&gt;Federal Monitor&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&amp;trade;&lt;/sup&gt;, a web-based  solution which allows states to monitor LEAs' use of federal grant funding  for No Child Left Behind and other initiatives; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.acmontheweb.com/"&gt;Advanced Compliance Monitoring&lt;/a&gt;&lt;sup&gt;&amp;trade;&lt;/sup&gt;, a  state-level IDEA compliance monitoring solution designed to assist states  in meeting the needs of the Continuous Improvement and Focused Monitoring  System (CIFMS), a model developed by the federal Office of Special  Education Programs (OSEP) to ensure school district compliance with IDEA  04 and IDEA reauthorizations; &lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;custom systems in multiple  states for Medicaid billing for medically necessary IEP health-related  services provided to MA-eligible special education students;&lt;/li&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;and custom solutions for  State Educational Agencies.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=77&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>12/01/2008</pubDate></item><item><title>Leader celebrates 40 years</title><description>&lt;p&gt;LDP Inc. celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2008,  marking a long-standing history as a leader of information technology  solutions. Over the past four decades, LDP has evolved from a batch computer  provider of payroll and accounting services to a prominent provider of  information technology solutions for education professionals, labor unions, and  municipalities.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;LDP consists of three divisions: Leader  Data Processing, which provides processing and inventory services for  municipalities; its Quest Systems and Technology LLC division, which provides  custom software for labor unions that addresses labor and benefit management;  and Leader Services, which provides custom web-based software for state  departments of education and for education professionals in Pennsylvania,  Washington, California, Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Virgin Islands.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The Early Years&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt; &lt;img src="/_images/40th/ribbon-cutting.jpg" width="300" height="232" alt="Ribbon cutting" align="left" style="margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" /&gt;LDP Inc.  Began operation on May 8, 1968 from its newly constructed site in Valmont Industrial Park  in West Hazleton, PA. Leader grew from the success of the  Leader Store, an established retail department store in downtown Hazleton that in 1963 offered payroll and accounting data  services to businesses in Northeastern Pennsylvania.  For its first several years in business, LDP serviced commercial accounts as a  batch data processing computer service bureau from its Valmont facility.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;LDP  serviced national and international corporations, and grew a national network  for the ILGWU (International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union).  In those early years, Leader began as an IBM house using IBM 360/20 card system  technology. Employees sorted hundreds of thousands of cards every week, while  the Data Entry staff keyed and verified approximately one million cards every  month. Within a short period, business grew and Leader evolved to an IBM 360/40  disk/tape system.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the  1970s and ‘80s, Leader moved to the next generation of computers,  Hewlett-Packards, to develop custom software for a variety of clients,  including some Fortune 500 companies. The company specialized in providing  these services to labor unions, programming a number of modules to address  their benefit needs, such as health and welfare funds and payroll. Some clients  remained with Leader for more than 20 years, including Iron Workers, Teamsters,  and the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE!).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/_images/40th/pcsforsale.jpg" width="300" height="199" alt="PCs for sale" align="right" style="margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" /&gt;In the  1980s, Leader moved to the sales of products rather than strictly providing  services when it began selling PCs and installing client/server turnkey systems  to commercial clients (see photo). Leader’s sign out front read &lt;em&gt;Today’s  Computer Business Center (TCBC)&lt;/em&gt;. In 1991, Leader acquired a medical billing  division, named it Leader Physician Services, and began providing custom  billing services for medical practices. It was this division that was awarded a  contract from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) in 1992 to process  and submit Medicaid reimbursements on behalf of school districts across the  Commonwealth. This program became known as ACCESS and the organization to  service this and all future school-based clients fell under a new division,  Leader Services.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Word  spread quickly of Leader’s proficiency in obtaining reimbursements for schools  while adhering to program regulations, and in 1993 Leader bid and was awarded  the direct services contract in Washington  state. Over the past 16 years, Leader expanded its reach to helping  participating schools in California, Iowa, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. During this  period, Leader Services began initiatives to better emphasize our renewed focus  of services versus products.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the mid  1990s, Leader evolved its custom programming services to support the Microsoft  Windows environment, a richer graphic interface that was transforming computing  throughout the decade. After a lengthy evaluation process, Leader adopted the  Progress database and programming language, using it to develop custom medical  billing applications, utility billing software, and an early version of  Children Count, the client/server tool for tracking and reporting schools’ special  education populations.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In  addition to the time spent developing these applications, Leader confronted a  problem that was predicted to have ripple effects across the globe – Y2K.  Leader worked diligently for three years prior to January 1 to upgrade our  clients’ software. This included extensive testing of the software and writing  new software applications to replace applications that were not Y2K compliant.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In 2001,  Leader developed its first web-based applications, including a custom  application for capturing Medi-Cal fiscal data for its CA clients and a  compliance monitoring application for Pennsylvania. More web applications  followed, including the hugely successful WebSDS application for PA  school-based Medicaid clients, and IEPWriter, used by almost 300 schools in Pennsylvania. Today,  Leader supports over 40 web sites and applications, most recently adopting  Microsoft’s .NET platform as its chosen development environment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Looking Ahead&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt; During its  40-year history, Leader has always understood that a company’s success or  failure depends heavily on the skills and commitment of its staff. Leader is  proud that so many of its employees have been with the company for 20 years or  more. Leader is uniquely positioned for future growth because of its wide range  of customized, easy-to-use software services. The company is currently  marketing its services to the federal government.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Related links&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
  &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="/about/history.aspx"&gt;History of Leader&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description><link>http://www.leaderservices.com/services/news.aspx?nk=76&amp;ts=0</link><author /><pubDate>05/01/2008</pubDate></item></channel></rss>