(1) A provider of services for applicants or consumers of services provided through this chapter that is an incorporated corporation delivering a program of vocational rehabilitation, visual rehabilitation, extended employment services or independent living services in order to become enrolled with the department as qualified to be a provider must be accredited by the appropriate accrediting body as specified on the following list:

(a) for vocational rehabilitation facilities and similar providers, the standards of the commission of accreditation of rehabilitation facilities (CARF) ;

(b) for providers serving persons with visual disabilities, the standards of the national accrediting council (NAC) or of CARF; and

(c) for providers of independent living services, the standards of the national council on disability (NCD) .

(2) Copies of the standards adopted and incorporated by reference in this rule may be obtained as follows:

(a) the CARF standards may be obtained by temporary loan from the department through the Department of Public Health and Human Services, Disability Services Division, P.O. Box 4210, Helena, MT 59604-4210 or by purchase from CARF, 4891 E. Grant Road, Tucson, AZ 85712; and

(b) the NAC standards may be obtained by temporary loan from the department through the Department of Public Health and Human Services, Disability Services Division, P.O. Box 4210, Helena, MT 59604-4210 or by purchase from NAC, 15 E. 40th Street, Suite 1004, New York, NY 10016.

(3) A provider of services, that in accordance with (1) must receive accreditation, may be provisionally enrolled by the department until the provider receives the appropriate accreditation. A provisional enrollment may not be for more than 18 months. A provider may not receive another provisional enrollment, consecutive with a prior provisional enrollment unless the department determines that the provisional reenrollment is necessary due to matters of process relating to the accreditation and that the provider is making a good faith effort to become accredited.

(4) The department may enroll a provider of services that is not accredited as provided in (1) , if the provider is necessary to the delivery of services to an applicant or consumer, and the provider is approved for the delivery of those services by a state or federal agency with which the department has a cooperative agreement concerning the coordinated delivery of services to a class of persons to which the person belongs.

(5) If enrollment is denied, the provider is notified of the reasons for such decision 30 days in advance of the date on which the department will cease to purchase services from the provider.

(6) The department provides for the enrollment of a provider upon receipt from the provider of records and reports attesting to its CARF or NAC accreditation. The duration of the enrollment by the department may be up to three years.

(a) The department, upon being apprised of any source of material change in the facility's functioning in terms of the standards or in terms of the failure of the facility to provide such records and reports as requested by the department, may review the facility's certification and may modify its certification decision. At the discretion of the department, such review may include an on site visit.