SR 02-26 Dated 06/02

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

This SR releases:

·   New HEIGHTS Notice of Decision (NOD) enhancements. These enhancements resulted in the creation of new client-oriented notices that are more accurate, readable, and understandable; and

·   new client letters, created to address unique situations that require special wording, such as the death of a case member.

BACKGROUND

The New HEIGHTS NOD Enhancement Project is the result of one year of research and planning. The current process was analyzed and the decision was made to recreate the entire NOD system. The goal was to develop a system that would produce one integrated, accurate, complete, and understandable notice for the case based on the sum total of all the actions confirmed during a day instead of a series of sometimes contradictory notices tied to each individual action. In addition, the text for all the NODs was revised to explain in simple and clear language what change has been made to the case, how this change will directly affect the client, and why the change was made.

NOTICE ENHANCEMENTS

Integrated Notices

The new integrated NOD system will produce one complete message for the case based on the sum total of all actions confirmed during a day instead of several notices tied to each individual action. The logic used to create the integrated NOD is based on "snapshot" comparisons of case eligibility at the beginning and end of the day. This logic eliminates duplicate and unnecessary messages and enables New HEIGHTS to create a simple, yet comprehensive notice. In some instances, regardless of the number of transactions, no notice will be generated if, at the end of the day, multiple actions on a case result in no actual change to the case.

EXAMPLE

At 10:00 AM, an open TANF case with a grant of $500 reports anticipated receipt of unearned income of $200 per month. The Case Technician enters the case, adds the income, and confirms the case. This transaction reduces the grant to $300. At 1:00 PM, the client calls and indicates that the $200 in previously anticipated income will not be received. The Case Technician removes the income and confirms the case. This transaction increases the grant to $500. New HEIGHTS does not generate a NOD in this situation, because the grant at the beginning and end of the day remains unchanged.

Structure of New Notices

The new notices are structured to be understandable and reader-friendly. General enhancements are noted below:

·   the font size has been increased and a more readable font has been adopted;

·   bullets and boxes are used when appropriate; and

·   Spanish text has been added to each NOD directing Spanish-speaking individuals to their District Office if they need assistance or free interpreter services.

Below is a brief summary of the basic elements of the new notices. If a section does not apply to a case, it will not be printed.

·   The Introductory Section explains the overall results of the action being taken.

·   A Summary Section is provided for each benefit requested and informs the client of the eligibility decision [Open, Close, Change, No Change, Approved (for Emergency Assistance), Deductible (for In and Out), or Denied] for each major type of benefit requested [Cash, Emergency Assistance, Foster Care, Medical Coverage, Food Stamps or Child Care]. This section also:

- notifies clients of how benefits will be issued (electronic benefits transfer, electronic funds transfer, or paper check);

- notifies clients of fair hearing rights;

- provides explanatory text when there is a negative action;

- contains a "Missing Information" section which advises clients when necessary eligibility information is still outstanding; and

- contains "A Note from Your Case Technician" section in which the Case Technician can enter free form text to provide additional information to the client.

NOTE: Free form text added to a notice requires supervisory approval before it can be included in the notice. Once a worker saves the NOD text, an alert will be generated to the supervisor. If the supervisor does not approve the text by the end of the day, the NOD will be generated without the free form text included. The free form text will not be stored in history if it is not included in the actual NOD sent to the client.

·   The Details Section:

- includes detailed program budgets (including an old/new comparison), and certain program details, such as information on TANF clocks and other food and nutrition programs potentially available to food stamp recipients; and

- provides policy manual citations and a glossary of abbreviations used throughout the notice.

Program of Assistance (POA) Screen

The POA dropdown list of reasons for closing and denying a case have been consolidated and reduced. For example, the reasons "Does Not Meet Age Requirement for OAA" and "Does Not Meet Age Requirement for APTD" have been replaced with a more generic "Age Requirements Not Met." In addition, several selections that were already available have been reworded to make them more generic.

NODs generated from POA closures do not have budgets. If a financial close or deny reason is selected from the POA dropdown, a pop-up will appear suggesting that a manual NOD be done. Any financial related reasons, i.e. "Income Exceeds the Limit," "Resources Exceed Limit," etc., should be used only when doing a manual NOD because they are for financial closings and require a budget to be shown.

Manual Notices of Decision

A new automated process allows workers to generate one NOD per case per day if:

·   the system fails to generate a notice; or

·   the generated notice would not be accurate for some reason.

To allow for the most flexibility for Manual NODs, new reasons have been added to the worker selectable list. However, the manual NOD will print only what the worker enters on the screen, and there are no internal edits within New HEIGHTS to check case information, such as benefit amount or case status.

NOTE: Once a worker selects a manual NOD and saves the NOD text, an alert will be generated to the supervisor. The entire NOD, including any free-form text, requires supervisory approval. If the supervisor does not approve the NOD by the end of the day, the NOD will not be generated, nor sent out in batch. The text will be saved, and can be reviewed and/or modified as necessary the following business day.

Client Letters

New client letters have been created for unique situations in which specific text is required. Copies of the letters are being attached for reference. Copies of CN0002 are marked as "draft," because the placement of the telephone numbers will change. The client letters are described below.

·   AE0025, Rede/Recert Change, is triggered when a case containing food stamps or child care has had the redetermination date overridden on-line. This notice can be printed on-line.

·   AE0074, Close/Deny at Case Information – Maintain Screen, is triggered when this screen is used to close/deny a case because the individual did not complete the AE interview. This letter can be printed on-line.

·   CM0020, Child Care Reimbursement Rate Change, is triggered whenever there is a child care rate change due to a child turning age 3. This letter is sent to the parent as well as the provider.

·   CN0002, Condolence Letter, is triggered when an individual in a case dies. If others remain in the case, a NOD is also triggered, but without inclusion of the deceased individual. The CN0002 is only triggered in batch and cannot be printed on-line.

·   WP0021, ETS Void Letter, is triggered when an ETS service authorized amount is changed to $1 and then marked closed, or when a scheduled ETS service is deleted. The contents vary based on whether payment is made to the client or provider. If payment is sent to the client, the notice is sent to the client. If payment is sent to the provider, the provider receives the original notice, and a copy is sent to the client. The provider copy can be printed on-line whereas the client copy can only be generated in batch.

IMPLEMENTATION

The programming for the NOD enhancements was added to New HEIGHTS on June 1, 2002. Any NODs generated on or after that date reflect the new format.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

The text box below was added to page 1 of the new notice to advise clients of the NOD enhancements.

In addition, Spanish text has been added to each NOD directing Spanish-speaking individuals to their District Office if they need assistance or free interpreter services.

TRAINING

Statewide training for both District Offices and NHEP teams was held on May 23rd-24th, May 28th-29th , and May 31st. Representatives from the NH Welfare Advisory Council and the Office of Administrative Appeals also attended.

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 September 3, 2002.

DFA/SJC:s