Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services
Gary Daniels, 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 May 1, 2006 KEESM changes:

• Child Care Assistance
   Establishing Claims
   Collecting Claims
   Methods of Collecting Payments
   Other Changes to Overpayment Claim Authorization (OVCA)

• Food Assistance
   ABAWD Labor Surplus Exemptions

1. CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE
   
   
   1. Establishing Claims - Per Summary of Change, Section 11125 is being changed to reflect that recovery of child care overpayments may be established by using monthly benefit reduction. On May 1, the KsCares system will be capable of monthly benefit reduction in order to recoup overpayments. Instructions to staff on how to prepare for this system capability were sent to the field on 2/20/06. Staff were given a print out of all existing open child care overpayment claims. From this print out, staff were to identify which, if any, of the overpayment claims were on their caseload and investigate if the claim could be substantiated by reviewing the case file for any supporting evidence. If the claim could not be substantiated the overpayment was to be deleted.
      
      An updated printout of open claims is being sent out separately this month. For each of these claims, make sure that evidence of the overpayment is in the file and that the reason for the claim is correct. KsCares notice C911 should be sent to the customer telling them that an overpayment exists, and to give them an option as to how they will repay SRS.
      
      
   2. Collecting Claims - Per the Summary of Change, Section 11126 (3) is being modified to note that benefit reduction for recovery of child care overpayments can now be done in the KsCares system. To begin the monthly benefit reduction, the customer must have an open active child care plan. The customer will be given 10 days to react to the overpayment notice. The choices for the customer to repay the overpaid benefits are:
      
      
      1. Pay in full.
         
         
      2. Pay in installments.
         
         
      3. Pay using funds in their Vision Card amount. (See the KEESM Appendix, item V-1, EBT System Guide, item 25).
         
         
      4. Pay by having their monthly benefits reduced.

   If the overpayment notice is returned, please follow what they have chosen as their means to repay. If it is not returned, set it up using the 10% or $10 rule. The system is capable to recoup at any percent or amount the customer chooses.

   3. Methods of Collecting Payments - Per the Summary of Change, Section 11126.1 (4) is being modified to include use of benefit reduction in the child care program for recovery of client overpayments. This new child care benefit reduction will be similar to benefit reduction for TANF. If the overpayment cause is Client (CL) or AGENCY (AG) the Repayment Plan for the claim should be at least 10% (with a code of PE) or $10 (with a code of AM) a month, whichever will produce the larger benefit reduction. If the overpayment cause has been determined to be fraud the Repayment Plan should be at least 20% or $10 a month. PA (Percentage or Amount) is not an allowable code for child care case overpayment claims. If the client agrees to repay directly, using their own funds or EBT benefits, a Repayment Plan of FP or PP can be used.
      
      Benefit reduction (recoupment) will be done only once a month, when monthly child care benefits created from child care plans on CHCP (Payment Type of RE) are processed. KsCares will automatically determine which claim to use, if there is more than one active claim for a case. Claim priority is the same as KAECSES, with FR (Fraud) the highest, followed by CL and AG. If two active claims have the same cause, then the oldest claim has the higher priority. For child care benefit reduction, the CC Subtype on OVCA for each claim will no longer be a factor; benefits can be reduced for payments with any CC Subtype. With benefit reduction, each RE payment for that case will have its payment amount reduced by the appropriate percent or amount. These individual payment reductions will appear in the recoupment field that is being added, along with the claim number, to CHCP, FAPL, FAPA and the printed Family Plan that is mailed to the client. The recoupment field will not appear on the printed child care plan. The claim balance will also now appear on FAPL and FAPA, but only if you are viewing the current month.
      
      
   4. Other Changes to OVCA - After you create a new child care claim for a case, you will be sent automatically to the C915 notice on CCNO; that notice should be sent to the PI of the case confirming the creation of the claim. If you make any change to an existing claim on OVCA, you will be sent automatically to the new C912 notice which should be sent to the PI informing them of the change(s) just made.

   If you create a new claim for a case or modify an existing claim for a case, then a new Family Plan will automatically be mailed to the PI of case. The new Plan will reflect any recoupment changes for the next benefit month.
   
   A new overpayment cause code of Potential Fraud (PF) has been created. This code can be entered on OVCA when the claim is created to indicate there may be fraud but that determination has not yet been made. Any claims that have this PF code will not reduce benefits issued for the case. If the claim is later determined to be Fraud, then the cause can then be changed on OVCA to FR, and benefit reduction will begin automatically with the next monthly payments for that case. If the claim is not fraud, then the cause can be changed to the appropriate code, such as CL, and benefit reduction will also begin automatically.

   If a child care claim is for a case, the cause code cannot be VE (Vendor). If a child care claim is for a provider, the cause code cannot be CL (Client).

   Four narrative lines are being added to OVCA. When you create or modify a claim, you can enter a note regarding the claim including its status. For provider claims it will be important that the person creating or updating the claim identify themself in this narrative because there is no action history on OVCA for provider claims.

2. FOOD ASSISTANCE
   
   
   1. ABAWD Labor Surplus County Changes - See KEESM Revision 27, Summary of Change, item V, A,1. These implementation instructions apply to all staff, not just those in the exempt ABAWD counties. In particular, staff in the non-exempt counties need to review the section on inter-county transfers.

   Currently Exempt Counties That Will Remain Exempt: Anderson, Atchison, Cherokee, Coffey, Doniphan, Douglas, Leavenworth, Linn, Shawnee, Sumner, Woodson, Wyandotte and residents of the city of Wichita.

   Newly Exempt Counties: Geary, Greenwood, Jefferson, Labette, Montgomery, Osage, Wabaunsee, Wilson and the city of Hutchinson (not including South Hutchinson).

   Counties that are NO longer Exempt: Cowley and residents of Sedgwick county not residing in the approved zip codes for the city of Wichita as listed below.

   For the first time this year, USDA has approved 2 year waivers for areas that meet certain conditions. In Kansas, a 2 year waiver (May 1, 2006 - April 30, 2008) has been approved for Sumner County and the city of Wichita. All other counties and one city are approved for a one year waiver, or until April 30, 2007.

   2. General Rules for the Exempt Counties/Cities:
      
      
      1. Exemption from ABAWD Status - Exemption from the ABAWD provisions applies to the person’s county or city of residence. Special provisions apply this year due to the exemptions for the cities of Wichita and Hutchinson as follows:
         
         
         1. Wichita - Residents of the city of Wichita with street addresses using the following zip codes will be exempt from the ABAWD criteria: 67201, 67202, 67203, 67204, 67205, 67206, 67207, 67208, 67209, 67210, 67211, 67212, 67213, 67214, 67215, 67216, 67217, 67218, 67219, 67220, 67226, 67227, 67228, 67230, 67232, 67235.
            
            
         2. Hutchinson - Residents of the city of Hutchinson with street addresses using the following zip codes will be exempt from the ABAWD criteria: 67501 and 67502. Residents of South Hutchinson with a zip code of 67505 will NOT be exempt from the ABAWD criteria.

         For both Wichita and Hutchinson, post office boxes in all above zip codes will not be acceptable proof of residence. The person must actually be living in the zip code to be considered exempt from the ABAWD provisions. Homeless persons living in the above listed zip codes will also be considered exempt from the ABAWD criteria.

      2. Application and Review Processing in the Exempt Counties - In the exempt areas, applications and reviews processed that contain persons who would otherwise be an ABAWD, can be certified for 12 months instead of the maximum of 6 for a case containing an ABAWD. These cases will now be required to complete an IR, so an IR due date will need to be set.
         
         
      3. Intercounty Transfers - If a person who would otherwise be an ABAWD in an exempt area moves to an area that is NOT exempt from the ABAWD provisions, the provisions will apply in the receiving county effective with the month following the month the case is received. Since a new three year period started January 2006, no person moving from an exempt area to a non-exempt area will have already received their three ABAWD months in the current three year period. They will start their three months of ABAWD eligibility the month following the month the case is received in the new county. The notice F845 - FS Important Information - ABAWD, must be sent to the customer to notify he/she of the three month eligibility time limit in the new area. This notice must meet adequate notice requirements. The month the case is received in the new area shall not be considered an ABAWD month. In addition, notice F849 FS Information -ABAWD/ICT is available to notify persons moving from a non exempt ABAWD county to one that is exempt.
         
         
      4. KAECSES Coding Issues in the Exempt Areas:

      JOPR: Persons who would otherwise be an ABAWD shall be coded as mandatory (MD) on JOPR. This will apply to new applications and reviews as they are processed. Existing cases shall be changed at the time of the next review.

      NOTE for Geary County: Since Geary county is a food stamp Employment and Training County, newly mandatory food stamp work registrants will also need to be sent the V016, Work Program Participant, to inform them of FS work requirements.

      PRAP: Persons in the exempt areas who would otherwise be an ABAWD shall be coded on PRAP with the person alert of ?A. This coding means the person resides in an area that is exempt from the ABAWD provisions (and would be an ABAWD otherwise.) Use of this coding is important for identifying persons that might be subject to the ABAWD provisions should they move to a county that is not exempt from the ABAWD provisions, or if the area is later determined to be non-exempt, and ABAWDs must be identified on reports for necessary case actions. The current PRAP code of AB means the person is an ABAWD in a non-exempt county. AB codes on persons in the newly exempted areas can be changed at the time of the next review or when a previously set 3 month alert is generated.

   3. County Specific Information
      
      
      1. Current Exempt Areas of Anderson, Atchison, Cherokee, Coffey, Doniphan, Douglas, Leavenworth, Linn, Shawnee, Sumner, Woodson, Wyandotte and residents of the city of Wichita - No special action is necessary in these counties as they have been exempt from the ABAWD criteria for the last year. See item 3 below for special provisions for residents of Sedgwick county that do NOT reside in any of the approved zip codes.
         
         
      2. Newly Exempt Areas of Geary, Greenwood, Jefferson, Labette, Montgomery, Osage, Wabaunsee, Wilson and the city of Hutchinson (not including South Hutchinson).: In addition to the general rules noted above, persons currently considered an ABAWD in the newly exempt areas are not to be closed or removed from an active FS case due to the three month time limit effective April 30, 2006 or after. If any cases have been copied forward to a future month and closed, they must be identified and the closure removed.

      If the case accidentally closes, it shall be reinstated without requiring a new application and given a review period within the review period limitation of 12 months. The original review period of 6 months can be extended to 12, but be sure to set an IR due date if more than 6 months will be left in the review period. Please note that extending the review period to 12 months only applies to cases that are closed in error. Other ongoing cases shall retain the original 6 month review period. A review period of 12 months (with IR due) can be set when the case comes due for review.
      
      Example: Single person ABAWD case in a newly exempt area closes by mistake May 31. The consumer calls in June about no benefits and the case is reinstated. The original review period was April 1 - September 30. When the case is reinstated, the review period can be lengthened to March 31, 2007. Since there will be more than 6 months left in the review period, an IR due date is set for 9/06.

      A case file search of recently closed ABAWD cases in the exempt areas is not required. However, a case file search of ABAWDs coded DI on active food stamp cases in the newly exempt counties will be required. Affected persons must be reviewed and if determined to be an eligible ABAWD, coded IN on the active food stamp case. A printout of all persons coded DI in the exempt counties will be provided on or around April 24,2006. The determinations of eligibility should be made within 60 days of May 1, with restored benefits as appropriate provided back to May 1, 2006.

      The title of this report is “Adults Age 18-49 Coded DI on Active Food Stamp Cases”. To help staff further identify ABAWDs on the report coded DI, the citizenship code from ETRC is listed. The review due date is also listed to allow staff to prioritize cases that are due for review in months other than May or June 2006. The JOPR exemption code is also listed to help staff identify ABAWDS (JOPR code of AB).

      3. No Longer Exempt Counties of Cowley and Sedgwick (not including persons residing in the above city of Wichita zip codes): Persons currently considered an ABAWD in the above areas must be identified and notified of their ABAWD status. Since we are in a new 3 year ABAWD period that started January 1, 2006, all persons no longer exempt due to this change will receive their three months of ABAWD benefits from May 1, 2006 through July 31, 2006.

      To help staff identify ABAWDs that need to be closed due to the loss of the labor surplus exemption status, a report title “ABAWDs age 18-49 Working < 29 Hours Per Week on Active FS Cases” will be provided on or around April 24, 2006 to the areas noted above. Persons turning 50 prior to May 2006 will not be included, and expedited/initial benefits as of the time the report was run are flagged E or I. Each case will need to be reviewed to determine if the person listed is an ABAWD and needs to be notified of ABAWD status and an alert set to close them by July 31, 2006 if they do not meet any of the other ABAWD exemption criteria of KEESM 2521. The PRAP code will also be listed (here’s where you’ll see the persons coded ?A) as well as any earned income listed on the case to help staff prioritize cases needing action. Notice F845, Important Information ABAWD, must also be sent notifying the household of the ABAWD provisions.

      NOTE: This report should capture most persons that are ABAWDs, either single person ABAWD cases or ABAWDs that are members of an active food stamp household (with no persons under the age of 18). However, some persons identified on the report may not be ABAWDs, therefore the actual case status must be evaluated to determine if the person is an ABAWD that does not meet any exemption criteria. In addition, the report may fail to identify some ABAWDs. If this occurs, the person should be evaluated for case action at the time of the next IR, review or case change, whichever comes first.

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