State of Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services
Don Jordan, Secretary
Integrated Service Delivery - Candy Shively, Deputy Secretary (785) 296-3271
Economic and Employment Support - Bobbi Mariani, Director (785) 296-3349
....Enriching lives today and tomorrow

MEMORANDUM

This memo provides implementation instructions and information for the following July 1, 2009, policy changes in the Kansas Economic and Employment Support Manual (KEESM):

1. Child Care
   
   
   1. Determining Scheduled Hours – See Summary of Changes, Item III, A, 1 and KEESM 7620.
      
      Effective July 1, 2009, it will become mandatory that staff use the Child Care Plan Hours Worksheet (Appendix item W-13) to determine the number of hours of child care to authorize for a child care plan.
      
      With the implementation of child care benefits on EBT, workers were required to be more accurate with child care plans hours which are used for benefits. Plan hours are a mechanism to calculate benefits (how much money the parent gets to help pay for child care).  Child care benefits can vary greatly (more than cash and FS) due to the hourly authorization based on personal need. 
      
      Everyone knows that it takes time to work up a child care plan for school aged children as well as overlaying times with 2 parents.  A work group consisting of field staff worked on simplifying this process and standardizing child care benefits for parents.  That workgroup created a worksheet that takes considerably less time but still accomplishes the same task.  This worksheet is electronic and builds in extra hours for days out of school during school months, thus further standardizing the formula used for child care benefits throughout the year.  This method also standardizes the way child care benefits are calculated across the state. 
      
      Varying benefits due to the hourly authorization and inconsistent methods across the state also create a hardship for parents and providers, as parents are required to request additional benefits for times the child is out of school.  This also requires the worker to then touch the case more.  A standard benefit calculation method and way of issuance will require less reporting of changes and fewer times for the worker to adjust the plan.
      
      A pilot was conducted using the worksheet in 3 different regions from September 2008 to May 2009 to obtain an accurate picture of the fiscal impact.   From what we saw in the pilots, staff like it, and it is a time saver.
      
      To use the worksheet, workers must first determine with the parent what their average weekly work schedule will look like.  That average weekly schedule will be entered in the appropriate fields of the worksheet.  That schedule must include travel time from the child care provider’s location to the parent’s place of work at the beginning of the work schedule, as well as return travel at the end.  If the parent has school age children, the school start and end times should also be entered in the worksheet.  The worksheet is designed to calculate the number of hours of child care needed per month.  The left side calculates hours needed for non-school age children, and for school age children for the summer months.  The right side calculates the number of hours needed for school age children  during school months.  For our purposes, June, July and August are designated as summer months, and September through May are designated as school months.
      
      **Note:  If there are school age children in the same family with different school schedules, it will be necessary to complete separate worksheets for each child with a different schedule.
      
      Extra hours are built into the formulas of the new worksheet that will account for days when school age children are out of school for both scheduled and unscheduled purposes, such as holidays, breaks, teacher in service, snow days, etc.  The time is averaged over nine months and added to the hours calculated for those school months.  Workers will no longer be adding additional hours for a month when a parent reports a change in need due to school being out.
      
      New applications being processed after July 1 must be processed using the new worksheet, including those that will authorize benefits for previous months.  Following training, any application processed is to be done with the use of the worksheet.
      
      The worksheet also includes a section to be used for documentation of information such as how the worker arrived at the average weekly work schedule listed on the worksheet for a parent with irregular hours, or any other information that was used to determine the hours of child care authorized if it cannot be seen elsewhere on the worksheet. When completed, the worksheet must be printed and filed in the case file. Information documented on the worksheet need not be documented again on the case log unless regional policy dictates. A simple notation on the log such as “See w-13 dated 6-1-09” will be adequate if the necessary information is documented on the worksheet.
      
      It will be important for workers to discuss this change with parents and emphasize the following points:
      
      
      1. The agency is making this change that will further the change in philosophy that began with putting child care benefits on EBT.  This philosophy makes the parent a much more active player in the whole process of paying their provider for the services that they receive, and makes them responsible for managing the benefits that are available to them to help pay this expense. 
         
         
      2. Parents should be strongly cautioned against paying their entire monthly benefit to their provider on or about the first of every month.  They should be billed for and they should pay an agreed upon amount at the same frequency as private pay parents.  This becomes more critical with the implementation of the worksheet, as parents are expected to manage the “extra” hours authorized so that they have benefits available to cover times when school is out, such as winter break or spring break.   Again, workers will not be adding hours/benefits when parents report that they need more hours to cover time out of school, as there is time figured into the formula that determines their monthly benefits to cover time out of school.
         
         
      3. Parents still need to report when they have a change in income or work hours, if the child’s regular school schedule changes, if someone enters or leaves their household, or if they change providers.
         
         
      It will be necessary for all ongoing child care cases to be converted using the new worksheet no later than the August benefit month, with work being done by the adverse action deadline in July.

   A mass notice regarding this change will be mailed to parents on all open cases the week of June 8, 2009. This will be based on cases that were open as of June 5, 2009. This notice will be able to be viewed on notice history in KSCARES.

   No mass notice will be made to child care providers, as this should not change anything in the way they should be billing parents.  However, in recognition of the fact that some providers may not understand the significance of treating SRS subsidized parents like private pay, providers will be informed of this change through a number of different venues, such as the KACCRRA newsletter, the EBT web portal, the SRS webs site and an email to the Child Care advisory group distribution list.

Training on the use of the worksheet is being provided in each region in June and July, and will also be available in July on the EES training web site for reference.

2. Funeral Assistance
   
   
   1. Maximum Funeral Assistance Benefit – See Summary of Changes, Item IV, A, 1 and KEESM 2323. The maximum allowable benefit is being reduced to $550.  This benefit limitation is applicable to all Funeral Assistance cases processed on or after July 1, 2009 regardless of when the application was received.
      
      
3. General Assistance
   
   
1. Not eligible for TAF or SSA Benefits – See Summary of Changes, Item II, B, 1 and KEESM 2312. This revision clarifies that the consumer must not be eligible for or have voluntarily rendered themselves ineligible for SSA benefits in order to apply for/receive GA Benefits.
   
   
2. Time limited Assistance – See Summary of Changes, Item II, A, 1 and KEESM 2317. Effective July 1, 2009, General Assistance cases that are Tier II eligible, are only allowed to receive a maximum of 18 months life time benefits.  Tier I cases are not affected by this change
   
   Cases having received 18 months life time of GA benefits on or before July 1, 2009 should be closed using a closure code of “18”.  Workers should use notice G414 (GA/Medikan Closure 18 Month Limit (Tier II)) when closing these cases.  Workers have been provided with lists of cases impacted by/potentially impacted by this policy change.
   
   When taking action on these cases, workers should request a TPQY to determine if there is an active Social Security Disability application.  If there is, the worker should keep the MS case pending (or if it is not currently showing MS pending, establish a pending MS).  If there is not an active Social Security Disability application, then close the MS pending case.
   
   All Tier II cases that are not being closed for having received 18 or more months of GA benefits should be sent the informational notice, V113 (GA Tier II Time Limit Information) which notifies them of the change in the life time limit.
   
   GA applications for individuals that have already received the life time limit for GA but are claiming a new condition or the worsening of an existing condition may be referred to PMDT for a determination for Medicaid only.  These cases are not eligible for a GA cash benefit because they have used their life time limit.  This is applicable even if they were a Tier II case that has used their 18 month life time limit and are later, (after closure for the 18 month limit) determined to be Tier I eligible. For ongoing Tier II cases that have not yet reached their 12 month review, workers should set an alert at the time of the 12 month review for 6 months later to help them identify and take appropriate action on cases when they reach the 18 month life time limit.  For those ongoing Tier II cases that have already passed their 12 month review, workers should set alerts for the appropriate time necessary to prompt them when the case reaches the 18 month limit.
   
   
3. Hardship Status – See Summary of Changes, Item II, B, 2 and KEESM 2318. The hardship status allowable for the GA program has been restricted in it’s availability.  Effective July 1, 2009, only Tier I cases may be considered for hardship.  Tier II cases are no longer eligible for hardship consideration.
   
   
4. Successful Families KEESM 3330.1
   
   
   1. SRCC Referral – See Summary of Changes, Item V, A, 1 and KEESM 3330.1. Item ‘I’ will be added to 3330.1 which will allow the EES case manager to refer a customer to SRCC for services based on the CFS -1001 report . No CFS case will be open if this referral is made to EES.  If the customer does not cooperate with SRCC a penalty may be assessed without consulting with CFS.  If further treatment is advised, then CFS will be invited to the Multi Team Meeting (MTM) as a resource of possible services to the customer.
      
      
      
5. Notice Changes – To access the document related to Notice Changes click on this link KAECSES and KSCares NOTICE CHANGES.
   
   
6. Working Healthy – To access the KHPA Changes to Working Healthy Premium Requirements policy memo click on #2009-05-02 at http://www.khpa.ks.gov/kfmam/elderdisabledmed.asp