Provider Connections is aware of an issue with emails not being delivered to people with yahoo.com accounts. This could be due to a variety of factors. Other Early Intervention Partners have encountered issues with other email providers. Provider Connections responds within 10-14 business days of receiving new and renewal applications. If you have not received an email from us within that amount of time please contact our office by phone.
Renewing Applicants
Note: The EI Credential is directly linked to billing for services. Unless an individual intends to provide and/or bill for services in the Illinois EI System, there is no need to hold the EI Credential. If an individual does get credentialed and enrolled to provide services but does not receive authorizations or bill for more than 12 consecutive months, the provider is subject to being inactivated from the EI Provider System.
Please use the application below and follow the corresponding process. Submit the entire application 60 days before the expiration date. Allow 4 weeks for processing the DCFS CANTS (unless there are mitigating circumstances determined by DCFS).
* Writable but needs to be printed and mailed to Provider Connections. The application must be mailed. It cannot be emailed or faxed.
View Renewing Credential Flowchart
Renewing applicants must
- Submit 30 contact hours of continuing professional education approved by the Early Intervention Training Program.
- Training must be taken within the current credential period.
- Training must be in at least two competency areas.
- All certificates submitted for initial credentialing or for renewal purposes include computer-generated names on them. Items submitted with handwritten names will not be accepted and could cause your application to be delayed in processing. If you have been issued a certificate with a space to write your name, please contact the sponsoring organization and request that they return a certificate with your name pre-printed on it. This policy does not apply to trainings designated as conferences on the certificate.
- Complete the Ongoing Professional Development Plan Format.
- Complete the Ongoing Professional Development Documentation Form.
- If 75% of the Ongoing Professional Development Meetings are not submitted, the provider must submit a plan for the next year stating with whom that provider will meet to fulfill the requirement. A 1-year Full Monitored credential is issued. One month prior to the end of the monitored status, the provider must submit documentation of completion of OPDP meetings using the Ongoing Professional Documentation Form. If the documentation demonstrates compliance, the monitored status will be withdrawn and the credential will be issued for the remaining two years.
- If documentation of the required meetings to move from monitored status is not received by Provider Connections by the expiration date, the credential will be inactivated and cannot be reactivated for 12 months from the expiration date.
- If 75% of the Ongoing Professional Development Meetings are not submitted, the provider must submit a plan for the next year stating with whom that provider will meet to fulfill the requirement. A 1-year Full Monitored credential is issued. One month prior to the end of the monitored status, the provider must submit documentation of completion of OPDP meetings using the Ongoing Professional Documentation Form. If the documentation demonstrates compliance, the monitored status will be withdrawn and the credential will be issued for the remaining two years.
Renewal Notification
Provider Connections’ preferred communication method is email as it is immediate and involves no cost to either party. The only record of a provider’s email address is the one listed on the credential application. Therefore, if you have changed your email address, please write, fax, or email Provider Connections with your new address information. Please do not call as address-related changes must be submitted in writing.
- Please add providerconnections@wiu.edu to your address book to avoid messages being sent to your junk mail.
- Renewal notices are sent via email the quarter prior to the credential expiration date.
- Renewal notices will be mailed to those who do not provide email addresses or emails sent come back undeliverable.
A credential extension of up to 3 months for Full Credentialed Providers may be granted due to non-compliance with the Continuing Professional Education requirements. Extension requests will be evaluated on an individual case basis due to extreme hardship and/or extenuating circumstances. Use the Extension Request Form to request an extension.
Using EI Videos for Continuing Education
A maximum of 5 hours of EI Video credit from videos from the EI Clearinghouse may be used for every 30 hours of continuing education submitted for renewal and/or core knowledge area documentation purposes. Webinars and online learning have no limit.
What is the Ongoing Professional Development Plan (OPDP)?
All new/renewing credentialed providers in Illinois must agree to participate in OPDP activities by using the Ongoing Professional Development Documentation Plan Format. OPDP activities are a once a month, non-billable, meeting held either face to face or over the telephone with an individual specialist-level credentialed provider or group, of which at least one member is a specialist-level credentialed provider. A Credentialed Provider, now including providers with a temporary credential, must document a minimum of 75% of their Ongoing Professional Development Plan (OPDP) meetings completed.
- If 75% of the Ongoing Professional Development Meetings are not submitted, the provider must submit a plan for the next year stating with whom that provider will meet to fulfill the requirement. A 1-year Full Monitored credential is issued. One month prior to the end of the monitored status, the provider must submit documentation of completion of OPDP meetings using the Ongoing Professional Documentation Form. If the documentation demonstrates compliance, the monitored status will be withdrawn and the credential will be issued for the remaining two years.
- If documentation of the required meetings to move from monitored status is not received by Provider Connections by the expiration date, the credential will be inactivated and cannot be reactivated for 12 months from the expiration date.
These meetings are intended to be used for professional development through discussion of client/family concerns, needs, strengths, resources, priorities, outcomes, strategies, and service plans in order to support best practices.