The iBudget Handbook defines a quarterly summary as “a written summary compiled by the provider of the activities that took place during each quarter, including the recipient's progress toward achieving support plan goals and for the Medicaid waiver services billed during that quarter.” The annual report is the same document at the end of the third quarter, widened to the whole year: the supports and services the person received, their progress toward their goals, and the significant events of the year. It isn't a fourth document — “the third quarterly summary is the annual report.”
Both are built from your daily documentation: the Handbook says the summary “is based on applicable service logs or daily progress notes, all of which must be maintained by the provider.” If the summary says the person made progress, the notes have to show it.
Which services need them
- Adult Day Training and Prevocational (Life Skills Development 3 and 4)Quarterly (or monthly) summaries
- Residential Habilitation — standard, behavior focused, intensive and enhanced intensive behaviorQuarterly summaries (standard may do monthly)
- Supported Living CoachingQuarterly summaries
- Supported Employment (Life Skills Development 2)Quarterly or monthly summaries
- Behavior Analysis and Behavior AssistantQuarterly summaries, plus graphs of target behaviors each quarter (Behavior Analysis)
- Dietitian and the therapies — occupational, physical, respiratory, speechQuarterly summaries for quarters with services
- Companion (Life Skills Development 1), Personal Supports, RespiteNot required — service logs only
This follows Appendix A of the Handbook, the per-service list of required documents. The services that need summaries are mostly the ones that also need an implementation plan — the summary is where you report on the goals that plan set out.
The calendar: quarters start with the support plan
Quarters don't follow the calendar or the state fiscal year. “The quarterly time period begins on the effective date of the support plan.” For a support plan effective January 1:
Q1
Jan 1 – Mar 31
Quarterly summary
Q2
Apr 1 – Jun 30
Quarterly summary
Q3
Jul 1 – Sep 30
Annual report, to the WSC by Nov 1
Q4
Oct 1 – Dec 31
Quarterly summary; new plan Jan 1
The annual report is due to the WSC “60 days prior to the support plan's effective date (or 10 months past the effective date of the current support plan) to allow time for the WSC to include any pertinent information in the support plan.” That leaves about a month after the third quarter closes to write it. The WSC then gives it to the person or their legal representative.
What to put in it
The services billed that quarter
What was provided, how often, and by whom — matching the claims. A summary describing services you didn't bill, or skipping ones you did, is a mismatch a reviewer will notice.
What took place
The quarter's activities, in the person's life — where they went, what they did, what they chose — not a list of staff tasks.
Progress on each goal
Every support plan goal the service addresses (the ones in your implementation plan), one by one: what the data shows, compared with last quarter, and why.
Health, safety and significant events
Illnesses, injuries, incidents, medication changes, moves, losses — anything the WSC needs to know when planning.
What comes next
Changes to methods, supports or goals you recommend. In the annual report, these become recommendations for the new support plan.
The annual report adds a summary of the previous three quarters and the year as a whole. Some services have their own required content — Behavior Analysis, for example, needs graphed results and an analysis of each target behavior since last quarter and since baseline — so check your service's section of the Handbook.
- Person
- Maria T.
- Quarter
- 2 of 4 · Apr 1 – Jun 30
- Service
- Residential Habilitation (standard)
- Days billed
- 91 of 91
Services and activities. Maria received residential habilitation every day this quarter. She chose to join the Tuesday cooking class at the community center in April and has gone 11 of 13 weeks; she skipped two weeks in May to visit her sister. She picked out a new bedspread and rearranged her room in June.
Goal 1 — “I want to make my own breakfast.” Staff offered breakfast prep on 84 mornings; Maria made it on 70. She now toasts bread and pours cereal and milk with a verbal prompt only (last quarter: partial physical help on most days). She still needs help with the stove, which is next quarter's step.
Goal 2 — “I want to handle my own spending money.” Maria counted change for her weekly purchases on 9 of 12 store trips (last quarter 4 of 12). On the other three she was rushed at the register and handed staff her wallet — staff will practice with her at less busy times.
Health and significant events. One reportable incident (May 8, ER visit for a cut finger that needed stitches; report and follow-up filed). Seasonal allergy medication started May 2 by her physician; no side effects noted. Her sister visited three times.
Recommendations. Begin stove safety for goal 1 with full supervision; continue store trips at off-peak hours for goal 2.
Writing it from three months of notes
The hard part isn't the format — it's reading 90 days of notes to find the progress. That's the part Waiversoft takes off your plate. Caregivers write their visit notes on each visit, so the quarter is already in the person's record. Ask Coworker, Waiversoft's assistant, to “write Maria's quarterly summary for April through June”: it reads every note in that quarter and the implementation plan on her record, drafts the summary goal by goal, and points out where the notes don't say enough. You review and edit it, then save it to her record — ready for the WSC and for a Provider Discovery Review.
Frequently asked questions
When is the APD annual report due?
To the WSC 60 days before the new support plan's effective date — or 10 months after the current plan's effective date, which comes to the same time. The third quarterly summary (or the ninth monthly summary) serves as the annual report, so it's written right after the third quarter ends.
When does the first quarter start?
On the support plan's effective date, not on July 1 or January 1. A plan effective March 15 has quarters from March 15 to June 14, June 15 to September 14, and so on.
Can I do monthly summaries instead of quarterly?
Yes, for the services that allow it — the Handbook lets a provider do a monthly summary every month instead of quarterly. Then the ninth monthly summary is the annual report.
What if we started serving the person partway through the year?
The Handbook covers it: if you've provided services for less than 12 months, the third quarterly summary serving as the annual report covers the months since services began.
Is there an official APD quarterly summary form?
No. The Handbook defines what a summary must contain, and providers may submit their own templates for written approval by APD's state office and AHCA. Any format that covers the required content works.
What does a Behavior Analysis quarterly summary need?
Four parts, per the Handbook: a summary of program monitoring and factors affecting behavior; objective results or graphs; an analysis of the data showing whether each target behavior improved since last quarter and since baseline; and recommendations. The annual report adds recommendations for the coming year, including a fading plan based on behavioral criteria.