0000  INTRODUCTION

 

0010  How this Manual Is Organized

 

0020  Federal Funds Are Vital to SRS

 

 0030  Claiming Federal Funds Requires Careful Record Keeping

 

 0040  CW/CBS Provider Service Delivery and Encounter Data

 

 0050  Federal Claiming Eligibility & REST (Random Employee Sampling Technique)

 

 0060  Computer Systems

 

 0070  Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority (JJA)

 

 

0000    INTRODUCTION

 

CFS provides services to children and families through contracted child welfare/community-based services (CWCBS) providers. SRS pays providers predetermined case rates per child or per family. SRS claims federal funds, not exceeding this case rate, for eligible services to eligible children from eligible providers.  Title IV-E Foster Care is a significant source of federal funds.  Most federal funding sources require individual eligibility determination. Accurate eligibility determinations helps assure SRS receives federal funds when the State is entitled to them. 

 

             0010    How this Manual Is Organized

 

This manual is organized by the service status of the child. After the General section 1000, section 2000 addresses children who remain in their own homes and receive services. The manual then progresses to more extensive services such as out-of-home placements, adoption, independent living, interstate cases and juvenile offender cases.  Finally, appendices, glossaries and CFS eligibility and payment forms are presented.

 

Sections 2000 through 6000 provide instructions by addressing eligibility, purchase limitations, purchase guidelines and payment procedures for each major program area.

 

 

0020    Federal Funds Are Vital to SRS

 

The state has the primary responsibility to pay for services needed by eligible children and families when they have insufficient resources but the federal government also shares these costs. These federal funds are a substantial share of the annual SRS budget. Maintaining the state’s eligibility for these funds is vital to providing quality services.

 

Kansas must demonstrate eligible customers are provided eligible services from eligible providers in order to document State entitlement to federal funds.

 

The federal government awards money to Kansas in two ways: a) a percent of the specific cost for categorically eligible services, and b) a percent of staff administrative time to provide these services. For example, in the foster care program "maintenance" payments are eligible for federal funding. A portion of the time spent by staff administering the program is reimbursable with federal funds.

 

0030    Claiming Federal Funds Requires Careful Record Keeping

 

In order to access federal funds, the general rule is that the customer served must be eligible, the service received must be an eligible service, and the CWCBS provider providing the service must be an eligible provider. Remember the federal government does not share service and administration costs for all customers, but only for targeted groups of customers. In the example of foster care, the federal government shares maintenance and administrative costs with the state for children eligible for Title IV-E funds. The foster care maintenance and administrative costs for children not Title IV-E eligible must be borne by the state.

 

To claim our share of federal dollars for services provided, Kansas must track the services it provides to federally defined groups of  customers.

 

This manual describes the requirements for determining customer eligibility for the various funding sources as well as making payments for eligible services provided to the eligible customer.

 

When children or families have private health insurance which pay for services, this source must be utilized before agency governmental funds are expended. Federal funding sources are preferred over state or local funding.

 

Due to the populations served by SRS, other divisions within the agency also have funding resources and manuals guiding staff. This manual does not repeat the detail eligibility and process information available in other manuals. These manuals are cross-referenced as appropriate.

 

The following funding sources are covered in this manual:

 

·         Benefits - SSI, SSA, and other benefits from railroad, veterans, etc.

·         Title XIX - Federal Medicaid funding for health and treatment services (behavior management, Level V and VI facilities). 

·         Title IV-E - Federal funds for foster care maintenance and adoption subsidy.

·         General Assistance - State General Funds. Not all services or customers  are eligible to receive federal funds.  These services are funded with state dollars.  State funds also provide the match for federal funds.

 

0040    CWCBS Provider Service Delivery and Encounter Data

 

Encounter data reported through the Statewide Contractor Reimbursement Information and Payment Tracking System (SCRIPTS)  is the method SRS uses to claim federal funds including Title IV-E funds for services delivered by the CW/CBS provider. These services provided by the contractor are paid by SRS at an established case rate. SRS uses encounter data to determine our federal claim amount and the state match portion paid by Kansas. Encounter data and the SCRIPTS system exist to support SRS federal claims.

 

0050    Federal Claiming Eligibility and REST (Random Employee Sampling Technique)

 

Explanations about the Random Employee Sampling Technique (REST) and how field participation in the survey forms the foundation for receiving IV-E federal dollars are discussed in this manual section.  In general, regional staff document time they spend working on IV-E related activities.  The percent of time they spend is used to estimate the time everyone spends working on IV-E related activities.  These results are included in the formula for the SRS Cost Allocation Plan which is used to calculate the federal funds received for SRS programs, including IV-E administrative and training costs.

 

Eligibility for federal reimbursement of administrative costs has a close relationship to the REST survey. When customers are eligible for federal sources of funding, federal financial participation (FFP) is available for the salaries of the staff serving those customers. In order to claim the FFP for staff (administrative) costs, SRS must determine the amount of time staff spend administering the different programs. This is claimed as administrative costs.

 

REST is a technique developed to save SRS staff the administrative burden of completing comprehensive time logs. REST stands for "Random Employee Sampling Technique". The concept uses statistical techniques to sample "random moments" of time. From this sample, SRS can calculate how much time staff spends administering different programs for specific customer groups within SRS.

 

REST greatly reduces the paperwork required of SRS. Federal reimbursement for worker's salaries is captured by a very small sample of "moments".

 

Staff participating in the day's sample are chosen at random. The REST coordinator in each office e-mails a form to participating workers for completion. The worker completes the form for the case they are working at the "moment" sampled. The worker indicates the customer's eligibility status, the service and the activity being performed at that "moment".  Recording the correct eligibility category for the case is essential to determine the federal funding source.

 

The process for accumulating and calculating the rate for encounter code CF054 is called RMS (Random Moment Study).   Administrative costs are claimed for services provided by CWCBS providers through the case supervision encounter code, CF054.  One unit per month per child is reported for encounter code CF054.  The  amount claimed for one unit is calculated based upon RMS study results.   The RMS is the CWCBS provider equivalent of the REST sample used by SRS staff.

 

Accurate federal claims depend upon accurate REST and RMS reporting.

 

0060    Computer Systems

 

Kansas Automated Eligibility Child Support Enforcement System - KAECSES

KAECSES is a major computer system containing data for all children placed in state custody and removed from their home. All children entering foster care shall have IV-E eligibility determined. This eligibility data is entered into KAECSES along with demographic and medical card data.  KACESES generates payments for Adoption Subsidy, Permanent Guardianship, Medicaid and Independent Living cases.  KAECSES can also be used to prepare manual emergency payments.

 

KanPay 

KanPay is a sub-system of KAECSES.  It creates an on-line eligibility process for vendor payments. This sub-system is used by CFS for Family Services cases.  KanPay is used when the family has no involvement in other assistance programs.

 

Finance, Accounting, & Reporting Management Systems - FARMS

FARMS is an accounting system used for tracking non-Medicaid payments made by SRS. 

When entering a new vendor number to pay a customer directly,  put 3 in front of the SSN.  A 3 is used with the SSN when reimbursing a customer; a 2 is used for purchases from non-customers.

 

 

Vendor Payment System - VenPay

Is a sub-system of FARMS used to generate, record and track specific payments.  VenPay  information is used to prepare the Family Services monthly report, Education Tuition Voucher tracking reports and the Independent Living services budget report.

VenPay includes payment information such as regional office, customer name, customer id, voucher number, voucher date, type of services or goods purchased, total payment amount and vendor.  The variety of information available makes the system a valuable tool for tracking payments by Regional offices.

 

InterChange-Medicaid Management Information System - iC-MMIS

SRS staff utilize the iC-MMIS to enter or review Medicaid data.

 

Family and Child Tracking System - FACTS

Data regarding all CFS cases are recorded in FACTS.

 

Statewide Contractor Reimbursement Information and Payment Tracking System - SCRIPTS

SCRIPTS has three main purposes: 1) to make payments to the CWCBS contract providers; 2) to produce the federal claim for IV-E funding; and 3) to submit referral information to the iC-MMIS for Medicaid services.  Referral information and IV-E customer eligibility is entered into FACTS and downloaded into SCRIPTS on a regular basis to maintain these functions. The federal claim is based on IV-E customer eligibility downloaded from FACTS and also based on CWCBS provider services reported to SCRIPTS as encounter data.

 

0070  Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority (JJA)

 

Juvenile offender services are provided under the auspices of  the Kansas Juvenile Justice Authority.  SRS  determines eligibility for Medicaid and IV-E funding for children placed in JJA custody. Juvenile offenders in JJA custody who are removed from their homes but are not incarcerated, remain part of the overall Kansas foster care population. (See Section 7000 for JJA procedures.)