SR 02-18 Dated 05/02

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

?Á*·   This SR releases revised walk-in hours for applicants of all case programs, except for expedited food stamp cases and cases with special circumstances.

·   The new walk-in hours are from 8:00 AM through 11:15 AM so that most client interviews will be completed by 12:00 PM. The remainder of the day is reserved for current recipients. These hours are designed to benefit both clients and District Office operations.

·   New Form 800AN, Applicant Notice, and New Form 800AN(i), Instructions to Form 800AN, are being released with this SR.

BACKGROUND

With statewide implementation of New HEIGHTS in December 1998, the walk-in hours for new applicants were established as 8:00 AM through 2:15 PM. These hours allowed District Offices to adjust to New HEIGHTS and the interactive interview process. It has been determined that these hours do not allow adequate processing time for redeterminations and case maintenance for current recipients, and do not result in the most efficient processing of applicant cases. As a result of a successful District Office pilot in Nashua that set walk-in hours from 8:00 AM through 11:15 AM, with more Case Technicians put on rotation to serve new applicants, the decision has been made to implement these hours statewide.

POLICY

Effective May 1, 2002, standard walk-in hours for most new applicants will be from 8:00 AM through 11:15 AM so that most client interviews will be completed by 12:00 PM. The remainder of the day is reserved for current recipients. Expedited food stamp cases and cases with special circumstances are not restricted to the standard walk-in hours.

Standard walk-in hours will benefit both clients and District Offices, and require a coordinated District Office staff effort. Exceptions to standard walk-in hours, benefits of these hours, and related procedures are addressed below.

Exceptions to Standard Walk-in Hours

Expedited food stamp cases and cases with special circumstances are not restricted to the new walk-in hours, and every effort must be made to interview them during normal business hours (from 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM). Examples of cases with special circumstances include, but are not limited to the following:

·   elderly and disabled individuals;

·   cases with limited access to transportation that have arranged a ride;

·   cases that have traveled a long distance to reach the District Office; and

·   working individuals who have come in on their lunch hour or who have taken time off from work to apply.

Standard Walk-in Hours

In order for standard walk-in hours of 8:00 AM through 11:15 AM to work effectively and benefit both clients and District Offices, staff must be flexible and work as part of a team. Because the standard walk-in hours are new, DFA at State Office is requiring that District Offices keep statistics on the walk-in hours. These statistics will enable State Office to monitor the walk-in process and determine its effectiveness and impact on client services, field staff and case processing.

The basic principles to be followed and related statistics are addressed below.

Case Technician Rotation Schedule

Standard walk-in hours require that all Case Technicians, with the exception of nursing facility and poverty level specialists, be put on rotation each day to interview new applicants who arrive at the District Office between 8:00 AM and 11:15 AM. Any DFA District Office Supervisors who wish to deviate from this rotation schedule must obtain advance approval from Art Stukas, Field Operations.

Clients Who Cannot Be Interviewed the Day They Apply

Some clients subject to the standard hours may not be able to be interviewed the same day they come to the District Office. These clients must be given the opportunity to apply and to complete Application Form 800 (the client’s name, address, program(s) requested, and signature are all that are required) or to go through the Client Registration process with support staff.

Clients who apply, but who are not interviewed on the date of application must be given Form 800AN, Applicant Notice. This form advises clients to come for an interview during walk-in hours on the next business day and requests that they bring the form with them. When the applicant returns to the District Office with the form, every effort will be made to conduct an interview that day.

Form 800AN also provides a list of acceptable documentation to bring to the interview. See the FORMS section of this SR for more details. A copy of Form 800AN and its instructions are attached for reference.

Keeping Statistics on Walk-in Hours

District Offices are required to keep statistics related to the walk-in process and will be provided with a format and instructions for reporting this data to DFA State Office under separate cover.

Benefits of New Walk-in Hours

The new standard walk-in hours are beneficial to both clients and District Office staff by:

·   reducing the waiting time for new applicants by placing more Case Technicians on rotation;

·   providing equal processing time for applicants and recipients by reserving the morning for applicants and the afternoon for recipients;

·   providing Case Technicians with dedicated time to process their work, resulting in new cases being opened earlier, and allowing more time for case maintenance functions such as returning telephone calls and processing mail on a more timely basis;

·   providing Case Technicians with more control over their workday; and

·   reducing the number of new applicant interviews that each Case Technician will have per day.

NEW FORM 800N, APPLICANT NOTICE

New Form 800AN, Applicant Notice, informally known as the 28 or 30 day letter, was sent to District Offices by Director’s memo dated December 28, 2001. This is a 2 page form given or sent out to the applicant by the District Office reception staff when an application for assistance is either received in the mail or hand-delivered and the applicant is unable to have an eligibility interview that day.

·   Page 1 encourages the applicant to come in for an interview as soon as possible and references the new walk-in hours. This page also advises the applicant of the timeframes in which an eligibility interview must be completed or the application will be denied on the 30th day.

·   Page 2 notifies applicants of documentation they may need to bring to the eligibility interview, depending upon case circumstances. For example, employed individuals must bring proof of earnings.

Form 800AN will be sent to DFA District Office Supervisors electronically under separate cover so that it can be adapted to District Office letterhead and be printed as needed. It is suggested that sides 1 and 2 of the letter be copied or printed as a back-to-back document so that there is only one piece of paper to handle. The form may also be completed electronically by filling in the underlined text boxes that appear on the screen. If this method is chosen, the list of verifications would be provided to the client on a separate sheet of paper.

Upon receipt of the electronic version of Form 800AN, any existing electronic or hard copy versions of the 28 or 30 day letter must be destroyed. No Certificate of Destruction is included in the SR, because the previous version was not officially released by SR.

IMPLEMENTATION

The revised policy on walk-in hours is effective for all clients that apply on or after May 1, 2002.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

District Offices are required to notify clients and community resources of the revised walk-in hours.

Client Notice for District Office Lobby

District Offices are required to post client notices in the reception area advising clients of the revised walk in hours. It is suggested that a large font size be used so that the sign will be clearly visible. A standardized notice was furnished under separate cover.

Notice for Community Resources

District Offices are also to provide written notification of the revised walk-in policy to community resources, such as the local Community Action Program Office and the Visiting Nurses Association. Sample text was provided at the March 18, 2002 DFA Supervisors’ Meeting.

TRAINING

No training is planned due to the procedural nature of this SR. However, the new hours and data reporting were discussed at the March 18, 2002 DFA Supervisors’ meeting.

POSTING INSTRUCTIONS

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 Division of Family Assistance 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 http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/PMIndex.htm, effective June 3, 2002.

This SR will be distributed under separate cover to all hard copy holders of the Forms manual.

DFA/SJC:s