Primary Provider Approach to Service Delivery

TEAM EI Colorado Vision: Every child and family served by EI Colorado has access to a primary provider in addition to a diverse team of early interventionists that possess expertise to build family capacity to support the child in everyday learning

Definition

• Primary Provider Definition: The one provider selected to serve as the liaison between the family and the other team members. The primary provider/early interventionist can be any discipline and has been determined to be the best long-term match for the child and family, based on family priorities and child outcomes identified during the IFSP development, with the family as an integral part of the selection process

• Primary Provider - Visit Type: Transdisciplinary home or community-based service is delivered by one provider utilizing a coaching interaction style with the family and caregivers. The primary provider will receive ongoing support through teaming discussions and joint home visits as needed

• Early Interventionist/Provider: Licensed and/or credentialed early intervention professional

  • For example: A physical therapist, a teacher of the visually impaired, a speech language pathologist

Guidance

• Core Functions

  • The team, including the family, selects a primary provider who receives coaching from a diverse team of experts

  • Provides families with a consistent early interventionist to build trust and reduce fragmented services

  • The primary provider is the central point of contact, while the full team collaborates through regular meetings to ensure consistent, high-quality services and access to multiple disciplines

  • When families request a specific type of service, early interventionists and/or service coordinators inquire about the functional impact on daily routines and activities and share that with the team to help identify the most appropriate primary provider

  • The early interventionist's skill set drives the selection of the primary provider, not the discipline

  • Children with complex needs may have a primary and secondary provider identified at the initial IFSP meeting

  • TEAM EI Colorado Scenarios for Working with Children with Multiple Delays/Disabilities

  • Reduces service gaps and overlaps while increasing coordination

  • Uses coaching as an adult interaction style to:

  • Builds caregiver confidence and capacity in supporting child development

  • Promotes cross-disciplinary learning through role release and teaming discussions

  • Enhances professional growth by sharing strategies, interventions, and feedback across disciplines

  • Utilizes evidence-based practices to coach caregivers on child learning opportunities during everyday routines and activities using toys and materials within the natural environment

  • Empowers families to practice new skills throughout daily routines, between visits, strengthening child learning and development

  • Facilitates support for the primary provider through coaching, teaming discussions, joint visits, and the addition of a secondary provider, or primary provider changes as needed

  • Drives service delivery through collaborative and intentional team planning

  • Aligns with best practices in Early Intervention, including the

    • Agreed Upon Mission and Key Principles for Providing Early Intervention Services in Natural Environments

    • Seven Key Principles: Looks Like/Doesn’t Look Like

    • Division for Early Childhood Recommended Practices

    • Professional Organizations Citations

    • TEAM EI Colorado: Best Practices and Framework for Early Intervention Services

  • In the TEAM EI Colorado model, providers may engage in role release and cross-disciplinary collaboration, but this is done through coaching and team-supported strategies, not through performing services outside of their scope of practice.

    • For example, if a speech-language pathologist shares ideas with an occupational therapist for supporting communication during a visit, it’s still the family, not the occupational therapist, who implements the strategy under the guidance of their primary provider.

    • The primary provider remains responsible for maintaining their professional boundaries and consulting with the team when specialized expertise is needed

• Requirements

  • Any licensed/credentialed early interventionist can serve as the primary provider

  • All core team members must attend and engage in structured team meetings (in-person, remote, or hybrid)

    • Core team members must participate in the entire meeting

    • Low-incident providers may attend meetings as their schedule allows or at a reduced frequency (ex. one time a month)

    • Primary and secondary providers plan, schedule, and coordinate visits together

  • If unable to complete visits together, ongoing communication with the family and between providers is completed and documented

  • Requires role release to promote equity and shared expertise

• What about Role Release?

  • Role release refers to the process in which team members share their expertise and knowledge across disciplines to support the child and family holistically

  • The primary provider becomes the central point of contact for the family, integrating strategies and skills from all team members into their work with the family

  • Through coaching and collaboration, other team members "release" aspects of their specialized roles by teaching the primary provider strategies and interventions that align with the family’s priorities and the child’s developmental needs

  • This approach ensures that the family receives consistent, coordinated, and comprehensive support, empowering them to embed strategies into their daily routines without requiring multiple specialists to work directly with the child

Talking to Families About Primary Provider Service Delivery

• What is the Primary Provider Approach?

  • One provider serves as the family's central contact

  • Focuses on building family capacity to support child development during daily routines

• How Does It Work?

  • The primary provider and the transdisciplinary team meet regularly for coaching and collaboration

  • The team provides strategies and interventions, strengthening all interventionists' skills

  • Joint visits may be scheduled when additional expertise is needed

  • A secondary provider may be added to the plan when specific additional expertise is needed

• Where Does It Happen?

  • In the child’s natural environments (home, childcare, community settings), using their available toys and materials

  • In partnership with caregivers, ensuring interventions are embedded in daily routines

• Who Supports This Model?

  • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part C

  • Mission & 7 Key Principles of Early Intervention

  • Division for Early Childhood (DEC)

  • Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA)

  • Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC)

How to Implement the Primary Provider Approach to Service Delivery

• Establish transdisciplinary teams with structured meetings for peer-to-peer coaching and teaming discussions

• Bring family concerns to the team for shared problem-solving

• Trial and implement team-recommended strategies and interventions, sharing results to enhance team and cross-disciplinary learning

• Use a coaching interaction style in discussions with both colleagues and families

• Identify the most likely primary provider based on the family’s priorities and functional outcomes during teaming and IFSP development

• Ensure caregivers understand the primary provider has the expertise of a diverse team to meet their child’s needs through formal and informal teaming discussions and joint visits if needed

• Children with complex needs may have a primary and secondary provider identified at the initial IFSP meeting

• Use the joint visit checklist prior to planning a joint visit

• Use the secondary provider checklist prior to planning a secondary provider visit

Documentation

*Required Documentation

• *Early Intervention Visit Note

• *Individual Child Team Meeting Note

• *Identifying and Selecting the Most Likely Primary Provider

• *Joint Visit Checklist

Resources

• Primary Provider Is, Primary Provider Is Not

• TEAM EI Colorado Fact Sheet

  • English

  • Spanish

• TEAM EI Colorado and Professional Scope of Practice

Billing

• Every early interventionist follows the Funding Hierarchy

• If the primary provider is not a Medicaid billable service provider, that provider bills the State