(a) A provider agency must initiate services within 10 calendar days from the effective date of the Texas Department of Human Services (DHS) referral.
(b) If a provider agency does not begin services within the 10-day period, it must notify the case manager, orally or by fax, by the 11th calendar day after the effective date of the DHS referral, or the first working day after the 11th calendar day. If the initial notification is oral, the provider agency must send written notification to the case manager within five working days of the initial verbal notification. The provider agency must include the reasons for the delay and the date services are scheduled to begin.
(c) A provider agency must return to the case manager the Authorization for Community Care Services form for Title XX services, or the Case Information form for Title XIX services, within 21 calendar days from the date of the referral, with the following information:
  (1) the date services were initiated;
  (2) the number of meals to be provided per week; and
  (3) the scheduled days for delivering meals.
(d) The provider agency must sign and date the form, return it to the case manager, and maintain a copy in the client's record, according to the terms of the contract.

Source Note: The provisions of this §281.25 adopted to be effective March 1, 2004, 29 TexReg 1672; transferred effective June 28, 2024, as published in the June 7, 2024, issue of the Texas Register, 49 TexReg 4063