ABA Clinic - Licensing Specialist

Job Title

This position is deemed 100% Remote Work.

Description of Job

About this position: This position is a pacesetter in the field who has a unique level of technical expertise in creating the landscape for the creation of interagency collaboration with the local zoning and fire authorities and the design of policies, procedures, and regulations impacting requirements in ABA Clinic settings. Management routinely relies on the essential consultation of this position before deciding essential, wide-ranging critical program policy or direction to ensure clinic practice is in compliance with required standards. This position implements the Division's audit process to include sample reviews, technical assistance and training, issuing reports of inspection, issuing fines, authorizing licensure, and recommending adverse action against a facility, agency, or clinic. This includes researching and staying up-to-date on policies, procedures, and requirements related to local zoning and fire authorities' requirements for approval, statutes specific to zoning and fire requirements, as well as the International Fire Code and its impact on ABA Clinics. This position determines whether the agencies are operating in compliance with applicable internal guidelines, rules, policies, regulations, and standards. This position is responsible for collaborating with local zoning authorities on processes and forms, as well as zoning disputes or accommodations to be made in the licensing and regulatory structure when there are zoning disputes to not prevent the licensure of an ABA clinic while the dispute is being handled. This position identifies and recommends opportunities for improving standards of practice for programs to meet operational expectations. This position is responsible for ongoing collaboration with the local fire jurisdictions, including county fire marshals, to ensure compliance with the International Fire Code in our licensed ABA clinics, agencies, and facilities and to ensure our regulatory structure complies with the requirements of the fire marshals. This position provides support to other Licensing Specialists and other staff within the Division of Child Welfare with regard to zoning and fire inspections and approvals as well as regulatory requirements and practices within the Unit's licensed ABA Clinics. This position ensures that youth are receiving safe and adequate care and treatment by evaluating the physical plant, treatment planning, staff and care provider qualifications, training, and supervision as well as financial stability, interviews with youth in care, and required corrective actions. This position is also responsible for handling and safeguarding confidential information regarding youth in care as well as specific to provider staff background checks.

Summary of Job Duties : Licensing of Agencies and Technical Assistance Provide or research options for and coordinate technical assistance to licensed facilities and agencies to support the delivery of quality care to youth and to increase their compliance with State and Federal rules, with particular focus on child protection and safety. Oversee and direct providers to improve programming to ensure the safety, care, and well-being of children in placement. This position is a technical assistance expert for the Division of Child Welfare in the areas of licensing, child care/child welfare, and treatment planning related to these populations. Serve as the staff authority on child care and child welfare treatment and the protocols necessary to assure resident safety and well-being. This position is responsible for developing and overseeing best practices, implementation, tracking, and oversight of practices regarding zoning approvals as well as local fire safety requirements, processes, and policies for services rendered in ABA Clinics. Management relies on this position's expertise for determining best practices for obtaining and reviewing background records for all staff members, foster parents, adults over the age of eighteen years living in foster homes, and volunteers working directly with children/youth in agencies licensed under the Provider Services Unit. Evaluate the quality of programming, practices and policies, and compliance with providers of out-of-home care; specifically, conduct building and site inspections, ensure staff and care providers are supervised and trained according to their individual needs and the needs of the youth served in the facility or agency, assess treatment planning, observe milieu, assess quality of home study evaluations, assess behavioral interventions utilized by facilities, examine medication administration requirements, examine restraint and/or seclusion practices, examine financial documentation to ensure stability of agencies and facilities and that the needs of the youth are being met, and conduct interviews with staff, foster families, and youth to determine quality of care provided. This position is responsible for researching applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy practices and implementing national and state standards and safety as they relate to day treatment settings overseen by the Provider Services Unit as well as Applied Behavior Analysis Clinics. This position provides support to the other Licensing Specialists with regard to issues specific to applied behavior analysis therapy, comprehensive assessments, and treatment plans and respective practices provided within the Unit's licensed facilities and agencies.

Corrective Action Compile and interpret data on patterns of provider deficiencies or gross incidents of non-compliance with Volume 7 to determine when adverse licensing actions are warranted. Provide documentation and testimony in summary suspension situations and other adverse action cases. Issue expert opinions, as authorized by the Division of Child Welfare, on child protection and safety that occur within agencies and facilities to prompt further actions by other entities within the Department and in the provider community. Advise management on action steps necessary to rectify ongoing concerns and violations at the agency, and when adverse action is indicated. Provide follow-up and increased on-site licensing until provider deficiencies are resolved and abuse/neglect or other safety concerns are alleviated.

Stakeholder Involvement Participate in the development and implementation of integrated and consistent licensing protocols within the Division of Child Welfare as well as with other divisions and stakeholders, including Administrative Review, Behavioral Health Administration, Office of Behavioral Health, and the Division of Youth Services. Consult as necessary regarding these protocols with county departments of human services and other government agencies, including the Department of Public Health and Environment, the Department of Education, Colorado Department of Public Safety, Department of Regulatory Agencies, Health Care Policy and Finance, Department of Early Childhood, and the Office of Management Improvement. Develop, test, and refine review instruments in order to ensure that the Department's child safety concerns are addressed. Ensure that facility self-assessment tools are developed, treatment standards are detailed in the rule, and integrated (interagency) processes are maintained and enhanced. Provide licensing technical consultation and assistance to all Divisions responsible for out-of-home child placements to develop new rules, statutes, or revise rules to improve county and provider performance and to assure children's health, safety, and well-being. Initiate Volume 7 rule revisions and updates to reflect current practice and statute changes. Position is relied on to be the expert opinion on how Volume 7 is interpreted and implemented, and when Volume 7 rules need to be modified to reflect changes in evidence-based practices and research publications. Identify when policy or rule revisions to Administration as a result of developing corrective action plans with facilities and agencies in which licensing visits reveal consistent and willful deficiencies.

Licenses, Continuation, and Renewals Approval Evaluate and license programs both for initial and ongoing licensure. Evaluate programs initially to determine the most appropriate license type to serve the populations the provider seeks to support. Thoroughly analyze policies and procedures, behavior management and discipline, staff qualifications, medication administration, and plans for educational, community, and recreational activities, treatment and services to be provided, and site compliance and quality via inspections and interviews. Ensure that facilities meet mandatory requirements of external entities that also oversee facilities: CDPHE, zoning and planning, and fire departments. Conduct reviews at minimum annually, reviewing staff and youth files to ensure compliance with licensing requirements. Complete reports of inspection to identify rule violations. Ensure agency response and timely correction of violations. All other duties as assigned from leadership within the Division of Child Welfare.

Minimum Qualifications, Substitutions, Conditions of Employment & Appeal Rights

Minimum Qualifications: Experience Only Seven (7) years of relevant experience in an occupation related to the work assigned to this position OR Education and Experience: A combination of related education and/or relevant experience in an occupation related to the work assigned equal to seven (7) years.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Services, Social Work, Psychology, or Sociology.
• Two (2) or more years of work experience related to human services or licensing.
• Demonstrated knowledge of child welfare policies and practices, residential best practice standards, and licensing regulations and statutes.
• Experience in an advisory or consultative role.
• Proven ability to direct research, analyze, and report on complex issues.
• Outstanding skills and abilities in verbal and written communications; ability to adapt a style to fit audiences of varying technical levels, and at various levels within an organization, in groups and individual settings. Demonstrated ability to establish collaborative partnerships and effective working relationships with a variety of internal and external customers and diverse public and private stakeholders.
• Demonstrated proficiency working collaboratively with internal teams; and national, state, and community partners.
• Knowledge of Volume 7 Rules and Regulations.
• Demonstrated knowledge working in CCCLS, TRAILS, I-LINX, and multiple databases and scanning systems.
• Applied Behavior Analysis work with children/youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and/or Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD).

Conditions of Employment:

• Full Background CDHS employees (all Direct contact with vulnerable persons): CBI name check and fingerprint check, ICON Colorado court database, Medicare fraud database, Reference Checks, Professional License verification (licensure requirements), Drug Screen, PREA (Division of Youth Services), Trails check (direct contact with children), CAPS (direct contact with