SR 22-34 Dated 10/22 |
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES – DIVISION OF ECONOMIC AND HOUSING STABILITY
Bureau of family assistance (bfa)
INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION
FROM: |
OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATION IV, BFA Deb Sorli |
BFA SIGNATURE DATE: |
October 27, 2022
|
FROM: |
OFFICE OF THE BUREAU CHIEF, BCDHSC Debra Nelson
|
DMS SIGNATURE DATE: |
October 14, 2022
|
AT (OFFICE): |
Bureau of Family Assistance |
TO: |
All BFA Staff All BCDHSC All BES Staff
|
SUBJECT: |
New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship Program Policy Changes to 60 Days of Provider Non-Billing, the 104-week Education/Training Clock, Job Search at Initial Application and Redetermination, FANF Income, Supplemental Security Income received by minor children. |
EFFECTIVE DATE: |
October 31,2022 |
SUMMARY
This SR releases policy changes for the New Hampshire Child Care Scholarship Program (NH Child Care Scholarship). These changes include: the treatment of the Assistance Group’s (AG) eligibility when their child care provider (provider) does not bill DHHS for 60 days, the treatment of the AG’s eligibility in relation to the 104-week education/training clock, the treatment of the AG’s eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap when the AG enters NH Child Care Scholarship under Job Search at initial application, the treatment of the AG’s eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap when any AG member receives Financial Assistance to Needy Families (FANF) income, and the treatment of the AG’s eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap when a minor child in the AG receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
POLICY
FORMER POLICY |
NEW POLICY |
When a provider does not bill DHHS for 60 days, there will be an automatic termination of the provider link for NH Child Care Scholarship for all children linked to that provider. If the AG has no other children linked to a provider who is billing and receiving payments for services rendered, the AG’s eligibility for NH Child Care Scholarship will end. NH Child Care Scholarship will terminate at the end of the 10-day ANP. When an AG receives a closing notice for this reason, the parent may submit a new Form 1863 (Child Care Provider Verification) for the same provider or a new provider, but must provide this form within the 10-day ANP, otherwise they must reapply for NH Child Care Scholarship |
When a provider does not bill DHHS for 60 days, there will be an automatic termination of the provider link for NH Child Care Scholarship for all children linked to that provider. If the AG has no other children linked to a provider who is billing and receiving payments for services rendered, the AG will remain open/eligible for NH Child Care Scholarship, without any provider link, until their next redetermination. If at their next redetermination the AG does not have an enrolled provider and provide a completed Form 1863 (Child Care Provider Verification), NH Child Care Scholarship eligibility shall terminate at the end of the AG’s redetermination month. When an AG receives a notice (AE0108 - CC Provider Link Required Letter) that the eligible child is no longer linked to their enrolled provider due to 60 days of non-billing and they are using a new provider, the provider must be enrolled with DHHS and the AG must provide a completed Form 1863, before any payments to the new provider are authorized. While the AG may remain open/eligible with no provider link, Form 1863 for any new provider must be provided within 10 days in order for BFA to use the Child Care Link Date listed on the form. Any Form 1863 received more than 10 days after the Child Care Link Date shall result in the provider link being established as the date that DHHS received Form 1863. When an AG receives a notice (AE0108 – CC Provider Link Required Letter) that the eligible child is no longer linked to their enrolled provider due to 60 days of non-billing and they are still using the same enrolled provider, the provider must contact the BCDHSC Provider Relations Specialist at (603)271-4242 or 1- 800-852-3345 ext. 4242. This will allow BCDHSC to work with the provider on any training needs or barriers, in order to ensure timely billing in the future. |
FORMER POLICY |
NEW POLICY |
Parents who are participating in post- secondary training/education as their approved employment-related activity for NH Child Care Scholarship shall be allowed a lifetime limit of 104 weeks of eligibility. Any AG with a parent whose sole activity is post- secondary training/education, who reaches 104 weeks, shall have their NH Child Care Scholarship eligibility terminate immediately after the 104th week. |
Parents who are participating in post- secondary training/education as their approved employment-related activity for NH Child Care Scholarship shall be allowed a lifetime limit of 104 weeks of eligibility. Any AG with a parent whose sole activity is post- secondary training/education, who reaches 104 weeks, shall remain open under post- secondary training/education until their next redetermination. At the AG’s next redetermination, the parent must be in another approved employment-related activity besides post-secondary education/training, otherwise NH Child Care Scholarship eligibility shall terminate at the end of the AG’s redetermination month. |
FORMER POLICY |
NEW POLICY |
For Job Search at initial application, if the parent becomes employed during the 92- calendar day period, the Cost Share, Family Cap, and Service Level are all recalculated because a new 12-month eligibility certification period begins the date the new activity begins. |
For Job Search at initial application, if the parent becomes employed during the 92- calendar day period, only the cost share and Service Level shall be recalculated. The Family Cap amount shall not be recalculated. No new 12-month eligibility period shall be established. Instead, the time spent under Job Search shall count toward the 12-month eligibility period. |
FORMER POLICY |
NEW POLICY |
All FANF income is countable when determining the AG’s eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap for NH Child Care Scholarship. |
All FANF income is excluded when determining the AG’s eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap for NH Child Care Scholarship. |
FORMER POLICY |
NEW POLICY |
All SSI received by the AG is countable when determining the AG’s eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap for NH Child Care Scholarship. |
If the SSI recipient is a minor child (under 18 years of age), the SSI shall be excluded when determining the AG’s eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap for NH Child Care Scholarship. SSI received by adults (18 years of age and older) shall continue to be countable when determining the AG’s eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap for NH Child Care Scholarship. |
NEW HEIGHTS & NH EASY SYSTEMS PROCEDURES AND IMPLEMENTATION
New HEIGHTS will continue to end-date the Assign Provider to Child screen when a provider does not bill DHHS for 60 days, however it will no longer terminate eligibility for the AG if this is the only provider link the AG has. New HEIGHTS will leave the AG open/eligible, without a provider link, until the AG’s next redetermination.
BCDHSC is manually suspending 104-week post-secondary education/training clocks in Bridges in order to allow eligibility through the AG’s next redetermination month. BCDHSC will “un- suspend” the clock during the AG’s next redetermination month, so that New HEIGHTS still auto- closes the AG at the end of the redetermination month if no new activity is reported and verified. New HEIGHTS will no longer establish a new 12-month eligibility period or recalculate the AG’s Family Cap when the AG enters NH Child Care Scholarship under Job Search and subsequently reports another approved activity within 92 days. New HEIGHTS will count the time spent under Job Search as part of the 12-month eligibility period, and will recalculate Cost Share and Service Level only (Service Level only if it is to increase).
New HEIGHTS will automatically disregard all FANF income received by the AG when determining eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap for NH Child Care Scholarship.
New HEIGHTS will automatically disregard all SSI received by minor children in the AG (whether eligible or counted), when determining eligibility, Cost Share, and Family Cap for NH Child Care Scholarship.
New HEIGHTS has updated the language on the following New HEIGHTS generated notices:
AE0024 (Change in Child Care Provider)
AE0108 (CC Provider Link Required Letter)
AE0123 (Training Activity Limitations)
DESCRIPTION OF REVISIONS MADE TO FORMS
There are no revisions made to any BCDHSC or BFA forms.
POLICY MANUAL REVISIONS
Revised Family Assistance Manual Topics
PART 925 POST-SECONDARY TRAINING OR EDUCATION PREPARATORY TO EMPLOYMENT
PART 938 FAMILY CAP AMOUNT, COST SHARE AND PROVIDER CO-PAY
PART 943 PAYMENT FOR NH CHILD CARE SCHOLARSHIP PROVIDER SERVICES AND PROVIDER CO-PAY
Section 943.01 Linking an Eligible Child to an Enrolled Child Care Provider
IMPLEMENTATION
This policy change is effective 10/28/2022.
CLIENT NOTIFICATION
No special client notification is planned or needed.
TRAINING
No special training is planned or needed.
DISPOSITION
This SR may be destroyed or deleted after its contents have been noted and the revised manual topics released by this SR have been posted to the On-line manuals.
DISTRIBUTION
This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for BFA policy releases. This SR, and revised On-Line Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sr_htm/sr.htm, effective October 28, 2022