The iBudget Handbook defines it in one sentence: an implementation plan is “a plan developed by the provider with direction from the recipient and includes the name of the recipient receiving services. The implementation plan details the support plan goal(s) that the service will address, the methods employed to assist the recipient in meeting the support plan goal(s), and the system to be used for data collection and assessing the recipient's progress in achieving the support plan goal(s).”
Services like Adult Day Training and Residential Habilitation are defined as training “provided in accordance with a formal implementation plan” — so a missing or late plan isn't a paperwork slip. It means the service has no documented reason to be billed.
Which services need one
Adult Day Training and Prevocational (Life Skills Development 3 and 4)
Implementation plan · due within 30 days
Residential Habilitation (all four levels)
Implementation plan · due within 30 days
Supported Living Coaching
Individual implementation plan (or a transition plan), with extra required parts · due within 30 days, and when the support plan changes
Behavior Analysis
Behavior Analysis Service Plan (BASP) — the Handbook's “implementation plan for behavior analysis services” · due within 90 days from the first billed date
Supported Employment (Life Skills Development 2)
Employment Stability Plan · due within 30 days from receiving the support plan
Companion, Personal Supports and Respite need service logs, not an implementation plan. Check each service's own section of the Handbook — the guides for Adult Day Training, Residential Habilitation and Supported Living Coaching list every document those services need.
The deadline and who gets a copy
Appendix A uses the same words for each of these services: the plan “will be developed, at a minimum, within 30 days of the initiation of the new service, or within 30 calendar days of receipt of the support plan for continuation of services and annually thereafter. A copy of the implementation plan, signed by the recipient, must be furnished to the recipient, the recipient's legal representative, and to the WSC at the end of this 30-day period.”
So there are two clocks: a new service starts one on the first day of service, and every new support plan starts one for services that continue. Keep proof of both the date the support plan arrived and the date the signed copies went out — a reviewer checks both.
The four things it must contain
The person's name
The plan is for one person and written with them: “developed by the provider with direction from the recipient”.
The support plan goal(s) this service addresses
Copied from the current support plan, in the person's own words. Your service doesn't need to address every goal — only the ones it's authorized to work on.
The methods
How staff will help the person reach each goal: the steps, how often, the setting, the kind and amount of help (prompts) they'll give.
Data collection and how progress is judged
What staff record each time — opportunities offered, what the person did, how much help they needed — and what counts as progress. This is what your notes and quarterly summaries will report against.
- Person
- James W.
- Service
- Adult Day Training
- Support plan received
- Feb 3
- Plan period
- Feb 3 – next support plan
Goal 1 (support plan): “I want to get a job at a grocery store.”
Method. Three mornings a week, James practices stocking and facing shelves in the program's practice store, and once a week he visits a community grocery store with staff to watch the work and ask a stocker questions he chooses in advance. Staff model each task first, then fade to verbal prompts.
Data and progress. Each session, staff record the number of shelf-facing steps James completes on his own (out of 8) and the most help he needed (independent, gestural, verbal, partial or full physical). Progress: 6 of 8 steps independently on 4 sessions in a row by the third quarter.
Goal 2 (support plan): “I want to take the bus by myself.”
Method. On community outings, James reads the route and times on the transit app, pays the fare and signals his stop, with staff beside him at first and then a seat behind.
Data and progress. Each trip, staff record which of the four steps James did without help. Progress: all four steps on 3 trips in a row, then a trip with staff following in a separate car.
Signatures and copies. Signed by James on Feb 24; copies to James, his mother (legal representative) and his WSC on Feb 25.
From the plan to the notes to the summary
The plan sets the measures; each day's progress note records them; the quarterly summary adds them up against the same goals. When the three use the same goal wording and the same measures, a reviewer can follow the thread in minutes.
In Waiversoft, upload the support plan to the person's record and ask Coworker, Waiversoft's assistant, to draft the implementation plan for your service. It uses the goals in the person's words, proposes methods and measures for you to adjust, and saves the finished plan to the record — where you can also send it for the person's e-signature.
Frequently asked questions
When is an APD implementation plan due?
Within 30 days of starting a new service, or within 30 calendar days of receiving the support plan when a service continues — and again every year. At the end of that 30-day period, a copy signed by the person goes to them, their legal representative and their WSC. The Behavior Analysis Service Plan is due within 90 days of the first billed date.
Which iBudget services need an implementation plan?
Per the Handbook: Adult Day Training and Prevocational, Residential Habilitation at every level, and Supported Living Coaching. Behavior Analysis has its own version (the Behavior Analysis Service Plan) and Supported Employment has the Employment Stability Plan. Companion, Personal Supports and Respite don't require one.
Who signs the implementation plan?
The person receiving services (for Supported Living Coaching, the person or their legal representative). The signed copy is furnished to the person, their legal representative and the WSC.
What's the difference between the support plan and the implementation plan?
The WSC writes the support plan: the person's goals and the services they'll receive. Each provider writes an implementation plan for its own service: which of those goals it will work on, how, and how progress will be measured.
What does a Supported Living Coaching implementation plan need on top?
The frequency of the service; how home, health and community safety needs will be met, including a personal emergency disaster plan updated every year and after any move; how the person reaches the provider 24/7 in an emergency; and how natural and generic supports will be used.
Where is progress on the plan documented?
In the daily notes or the quarterly summaries, as each service specifies. The plan sets the measures; the notes record them; the quarterly summary adds them up.