EES POLICY NO. 09-12-04

RE:  SRS & KHPA Coordination Sharing Information

POLICY MEMO

Contact Person:

Jeanine Schieferecke, Senior Manager, Medicaid Eligibility, KHPA

Denise Kelly, Benefits Section Manager, SRS

FROM:   Bobbi Mariani, Director, EES Darin Bodenhamer, Director of Medicaid Eligibility, KHPA      

KEESM Reference:

NA

DATE:     December 16, 2009

 Other:

Primary SRS Areas Affected: EES and HealthWave Clearinghouse

Where Posted on Web:http://content.srs.ks.gov/ees/KEESM/
Policy_Memo/policy_memo_list.htm

The purpose of this memo is to establish information sharing requirements between SRS Regional Office Staff and the HealthWave Clearinghouse. For cases with TAF involvement, the TAF Change Form has been revised and will be available January 1, 2010.

  1. Background

    In 2001 instructions for sharing case information between medical programs maintained at the Clearinghouse and other non-medical programs maintained in a local SRS office were released. Several changes to these procedures have been made since then, with instructions found in numerous memos and clearances. The procedures outlined in this memo supersede previous instructions.

  2. Family Medical and NON-TAF Customer Policies – Reporting Information

    Changes reported on SRS Non-TAF cases for families who also have an open Family Medical program at the Clearinghouse will no longer be reported to the sister agency. Families who have open programs at multiple locations are responsible for reporting changes to each location. For these non-TAF cases, staff who become aware of a change in a family’s circumstances (e.g. address, income) are no longer required to notify the sister agency of the change. Non-TAF cases are those with no open TAF benefit but have open work transition, food assistance or child care only cases. Prior to this change, staff were required to share such information between agencies.

    For non-TAF cases with family medical programs, use the following:

    • Applications for family medical programs continue to be processed in the location they are received. Policies related to initial applications are not changing.

    • Once the initial application is processed and transferred to the Clearinghouse, the customer is responsible to report changes on the family medical case to the Clearinghouse. The customer reports changes for other programs to the appropriate SRS Service Center.

    • When a customer with an open medical case at the Clearinghouse calls SRS to report a change on their food assistance and/or child care case, instruct them to also contact the Clearinghouse with this information. If the customer asks SRS staff to report this information to the Clearinghouse for them, an appropriate response would be:

      “You are required to report these changes to the Clearinghouse. Their number is 1-800-792-4884.”

    • Likewise, when changes are reported to the Clearinghouse, staff shall instruct the individual to contact their SRS worker with this information.

    • If SRS or the Clearinghouse have documentation, such as pay stubs, employer statement, etc, and the customer requests a copy be sent to the other agency, staff will respond to this request and fax or mail the information to the other agency.

    The HealthWave Info Form is obsolete effective with the release of this memo. Changes related to medical programs such as SOBRA, HCBS, or Foster Care which were previously reported on this form, shall be shared with the Clearinghouse via email to HW-Info@khpa.ks.gov

  3. Family Medical and Other Medical Programs - Information Sharing

    When both a family medical case in the clearinghouse and a medical program in SRS exist, coordination between eligibility staff working on these various programs is required. Examples include Foster Care, SOBRA, and HCBS cases. Policy memos regarding the coordination of these programs remain current as of this date.

    Staff remain obligated to confer with other agencies as necessary to assure benefits are issued timely and appropriately. Sharing appropriate documentation continues to be a vital part of providing quality services.

  4. TAF and Medical Cases – Information Sharing

    A request for TAF on a paper application is also a request for Medical Eligibility. MACM continues to be determined off-KAECSES using a Microsoft Excel document that calculates eligibility with the appropriate 40% earned income disregard. The MACM electronic worksheet is available in the KEESM appendix (Item W-6).

    SRS will continue to share the following information with the Clearinghouse when there is an open medical case:

    • TAF paper applications

    • TAF reviews

    • TAF household changes

    Other changes occurring on TAF cases are no longer reported to the Clearinghouse. The above information is shared with the Clearinghouse on the TAF Change Form (Appendix Item W-11). A ‘SUBMIT’ button has been added to the form. When selected, the completed form is e-mailed directly to the appropriate HealthWave e-mail box. Case Managers are not required to retain a copy in the case file - narrating the action taken in the case log is sufficient.

    EES staff are also no longer required to report Child Support Cooperation or non-Cooperation to the Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse will be notified of Child Support non-cooperation via the Worker Alert process (WOAL).

    If you have any questions about the material included in this memo, please contact:

Allison Blackwell
Family Medical Policy Manager, KHPA
(785) 291-3881
Allison.Blackwell@khpa.ks.gov

        or

Judy Kennedy
TAF Program Manger, SRS
(785) 296-2968
Judy.Kennedy@SRS.KS.gov

Questions regarding any KAECSES issues are directed to the SRS Business Help Desk at helpdeskbusiness@srs.ks.gov .               

 

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