943 PAYMENT FOR NH CHILD CARE SCHOLARSHIP PROVIDER SERVICES AND PROVIDER CO-PAY (FAM)

SR 22-34 Dated 10/22

Previous Policy

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Payments for child care services are made directly to the child care provider as reimbursements. Providers are not employees of the Department and the Department incurs no financial liability for any amounts beyond the amount of the Department’s payment.

 

To determine the weekly amount paid to child care providers, the Department compares the provider’s charge for private pay families to the NH weekly standard rate , and subtracts the family cost share from the lesser of these two amounts.

 

Families are responsible for paying the child care provider for their cost share amount and any cost which exceed the amount of the Department’s payment, if the provider chooses to charge the family this extra amount. This extra amount that the child care provider may charge families is called the co-pay.

 

Before the Department issues a payment for child care provider services, all of the following criteria must be met:

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the family has applied and been determined eligible for NH Child Care Scholarship;

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the provider has been enrolled as a child care provider with DHHS (See Section 929.01, Required Provider Enrollment Documentation);

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the family and provider have completed and submitted  Form 1863, (Child Care Provider Verification)

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the provider has an accurate record of the child’s attendance with the parent’s ful lwet or electronic signature verifying the weekly attendance;

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the family and provider have on a weekly basis, completed and signed a weekly attendance record for each child for each week of service and billed via the DHHS Web Billing application;

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the electronic invoice must not include any additional fees or costs for non-child care services; and

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the child care provider must correct and resubmit any incorrect electronic invoices, no later than 60 calendar days from the date of service.

 

Payment will not be made for any billing invoice submitted 60 calendar days following the last date of service on the electronic invoice.

 

If there is no payment to a child care provider for dates of service rendered in the last 60 days, there will be an automatic termination of the child care provider link for NH Child Care Scholarship for that child. If the family has no other children linked to a provider who is billing and receiving payments for services rendered, the family’s eligibility for NH Child Care Scholarship will continue without a provider link until the time of the family’s next redetermination. At the time of the family’s next redetermination, NH Child Care Scholarship eligibility will terminate if the family does not select a DHHS-enrolled provider and complete and return Form 1863 (Child Care Provider Verification). When a parent receives a notice that their child is no longer linked for this reason, and the child has changed providers, the parent must submit a new- Form1863, for the new provider before any payments shall be made to the new provider. When a parent receives a notice that their child is no longer linked due to 60 days of non-billing by the provider, but is still using the same provider, the provider must contact the Provider Relations Specialist at the Bureau of Child Development and Head Start Collaboration prior to the link between the child and provider being reestablished.

 

A child under the age of 72 months (6 years) cannot receive NH Child Care Scholarship if the child receives child care services in a License-Exempt Center. Any costs incurred by a License-Exempt Center  for services provided to a child under 72 months will not be paid by the Department. The family will be responsible for any costs incurred.

 

A child must only be linked to one child care provider at a time. Families are responsible for the full payment to any other child care provider the family may use for child care services.

 

An enrolled license-exempt family child care provider who is linked to a child must be the person providing the care for all times that the Department is billed. If an enrolled license-exempt family child care provider requires a substitute caregiver for any period of time, the provider may not bill DHHS for any time the provider was not the actual person providing the child care.

 

If a provider fails to comply with DHHS billing requirements and consequently is not paid within 60 days of services being rendered, the provider is prohibited from billing the parent for the amount of the NH Child Care Scholarship that they did not receive from DHHS.

 

Child care providers are allowed payment for closure hours each calendar year, which include DHHS designated holidays, program closure hours, staff professional development hours, and federal, state or DHHS Administrator declared disaster closure day(s). DHHS does not accept paper-billing invoices.

 

DHHS allows payment for one child care registration fee up to $50.00 per calendar year for each child eligible for NH Child Care Scholarship. The registration fee charged must not exceed the amount charged to private paying families. If the child care providers registration feed exceeds $50.00 the child care provider can charge the family the difference.

 

References: He-C 6918.04, 45 CFR 98.3, RSA 170:E2, XI-a, RSA 126-A:58, XV.