Summary of Changes to CCR&R Functions and Implementation Plan
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On October 29, 2009 the Governor laid out a series of measures required to close a $600 million gap for the current fiscal year and exercised his authority to implement 9C cuts in FY2010. Included in these 9C cuts was a reduction in EEC’s Access Management account from $9.8 million to $6.4 million, thereby reducing funds for CCR&Rs to perform information and referral and voucher management functions. EEC has worked with CCR&Rs and contracted providers so that together a collective strategy could be developed to balance the severity of the Commonwealth’s fiscal situation with the need to continue critical services to families. Part of this strategy includes a determination as to what functions can be transferred to another entity, eliminated and/or made more efficient.
As a result of the discussions and in furtherance of EEC’s ongoing efforts to streamline the voucher management process, EEC is seeking to implement the following changes.
1. Differentiated Voucher Management
EEC has identified Income Eligible voucher reassessment as one particular function that can be streamlined by reassigning a portion of it from the CCR&Rs to contracted, center-based providers and family child care systems by January 15, 2010.
Through its March 2009 Income Eligible Child Care Financial Assistance Request for Response (RFR), EEC explored the possibility of having contracted providers and systems conduct eligibility determinations for voucher families in their care through a “pilot” basis. Bidders interested in participating in this proposed pilot program were asked to indicate their interest when completing the on-line questionnaire. Out of 194 contracted providers and systems, 147 responded they would be interested in conducting voucher eligibility determinations for all children funded by vouchers, and 127 of those providers received contracts (currently reassessed by CCR&R).[1]
EEC will transfer Income Eligible voucher reassessment functions to the 147 center-based providers and Family Child Care Systems who responded affirmatively to the RFR question. [2] This group currently holds EEC contracts and is therefore familiar with eCCIMS and with the reassessment function.
In addition to the CCR&R income eligible caseload impact, allowing parents to complete the reassessment process with their children’s provider or local family child care system would eliminate wait times for CCR&R appointments and reduce multiple visits by families to a regional CCR&R office to provide missing documentation, and would also avoid having contracted providers and CCR&Rs mail eligibility documentation back and forth to each other (as has been recently proposed).
The Process:
· Contracted providers and systems would follow the process that they currently follow in determining eligibility for families enrolled in their programs through contracted slots. Specifically, the providers/ systems would collect (and maintain) the eligibility documentation from the parents (e.g., service need, income need, and household composition documentation), enter the data into eCCIMS, and execute with the parents a Financial Assistance Application and Fee Agreement. One added step in this process that differs from the contract assessments is that the providers/ systems would electronically submit to their local CCR&R the completed eCCIMS record, and the CCR&R would electronically issue a voucher based on the parent’s completed eCCIMS record.
· The CCR&R function in this scenario would be reduced to minor data entry (updating) into CCIMS to electronically issue the voucher.
· The contracted providers/ systems would be responsible for the reassessment decision and would be audited on the same; to that end, the contracted providers/ systems would maintain the files and back up documentation in support of the reassessment decisions.
· CCR&Rs would continue to provide voucher management for independent family child care providers, voucher only center-based providers, in-home non-relative providers, and financial assistance for specialized populations, such as families involved with the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) and the Department of Children and Families (DCF).
· EEC will make enhancements to eCCIMs to help facilitate this process to, among other things, increase eCCIMS and CCIMS compatibility. Short term enhancements to eCCIMS will include developing an on-line report to notify providers of upcoming assessments, developing the voucher eligibility component within eCCIMS, as well as providing for the email exchange of eligibility documentation between providers and CCR&Rs. Long term enhancements would include development of an attendance collection module and billing module for voucher management within eCCIMS, allowing contracted providers to maintain and manage these functions directly with EEC.
2. Waitlist Maintenance
EEC regional office will assume this function by December 11, 2009. IT enhancements and trainings for EEC regional staff will be conducted between now and December 11th to facilitate this process.
3. NACCRA database maintenance
The NACCRAware software is a 3rd party product that collects and stores information about licensed, exempt and camp/public school providers not available in EEC’s licensing database. Each of the 14 CCRRs has their own instance of the database with data stored externally in Washington, DC. In order to present this information on EEC’s child care search screen, EEC runs an automated process to download the externally hosted data, merge the 14 data sets and integrate with the licensing data.
Since the EEC Child Care search function on EEC’s Website already has the current version of NACCRRAware data, EEC will perform updates on its native database, and discontinue the automated process. All the NACCRRAWare-defined data elements will be updated. In addition EEC will take on data management of summer camps, public school and other exempt programs for the Web search.
EEC regional office staff will assume NACCRA database maintenance by January 1, 2010. Between now and January 1, 2010 EEC will develop email and paper forms for providers to submit their own data , train the regional office staff on how to keep the NACCRA fields populated, and will sort through the NACCRA user license issues.
The Process:
· EEC IT will develop screens to update/enter data and add Fields for “last update date.” and “data entry staff who made the change.”
· EEC will develop email and paper forms for providers to submit requested info.
· EEC will train data entry staff via Webinar.
4. Implementation of IT enhancements to reduce the CCR&R Billing workload
EEC will modify eCCIMS and CCIMS to exchange attendance and billing information electronically, thereby eliminating the paper creation of attendance by contracted providers and the data entry of attendance by the CCRRs. The provider will enter attendance electronically, and the CCRR will receive this electronically. This new process will:
· eliminate the providers handwritten billing;
· eliminate or reduce errors in attendance, because system will not allow attendance entry when child not eligible and for double billing;
· eliminate duplicate data entry of attendance (once by the contracted provider on paper; 2nd time for CCRR in CCIMS) and verification for CCR&Rs; and
· eliminate work and cost of mailing, paper, and envelopes.
This will require significant IT development, which realistically cannot be implemented until March 2010. Through these enhancements EEC will also seek to address CCR&R stated concerns regarding the family child care system billing process, including implementing a policy change that would eliminate the need to document provider changes within family child care systems.
EEC will continue to explore the option of allowing contracted providers to bill EEC directly for vouchers in their programs, but at this juncture it would not be possible to make the necessary IT enhancements and fiscal policy changes (i.e., schedule of care issue), and to secure the necessary legal approvals (e.g., Comptroller, OSD) to effectively and efficiently facilitate this change this fiscal year, in any way that would achieve any appreciable savings.
5. Eligibility Reassessment Period
EEC recognizes that with reduced staffing levels CCR&Rs will likely require additional time to schedule and complete eligibility reassessments for voucher families. Commencing November 20, 2009, and limited to FY2010, EEC will allow CCR&Rs to extend vouchers for up to two (2) additional months so that they can schedule and complete the reassessment process; EEC will be extending this renewal/ reassessment scheduling flexibility to CCR&Rs for income eligible child care eligibility reassessments for fiscal year 2010, through a policy change. Parents who receive child care vouchers must continue to notify their CCR&R whenever there is a change in income, service need, residence or family size within two (2) weeks of such a change.
6. Option to Transfer Money from the Professional Development Account to the Access Management
In order to allow this, EEC would have to receive Department of Administration and Finance (ANF) approval to formally transfer funding from the professional development line item (3000-6000) to the voucher management line item (3000-2000). EEC will continue to explore this option with ANF, but unfortunately cannot commit to allowing it at this at this time. Meanwhile, CCR&Rs that are interested in pursuing this option should submit proposals which include the amount of funding that they would like transferred from their respective professional development contract lines to their access management contract lines, how such funding would be used in access management and what functions would change or be eliminated in professional development.
7. Efficiency Proposals
EEC is soliciting efficiency proposals from CCR&Rs on creative ways to streamline the voucher management process. EEC’s Board approved the proposed use of $1 million in ARRA funding for reimbursing CCR&Rs for providing transitional support to contracted providers and systems as the reassessment process is transferred to contracted programs, and to implement efficiencies in the voucher management system. Although disbursement of this funding is subject to approval by ANF, in order to expedite the implementation of CCR&R proposals, EEC will post instructions for CCR&Rs to submit proposals outlining how they would use the ARRA funds to provide and implement specifictransition services and voucher management efficiencies on its website by the end of November 2009.Some examples of voucher management streamlining and improved efficiencies may include, but are not limited to, the following:
· joint proposals that achieve economies of scale and/ or the consolidation of resources;
· use of technology within voucher management agency to improve efficiency and service;
· formation or use of existing partnerships with other state and community agencies to realize efficiencies in the system, which aim to streamline the process for families, such as out-posting of staff to DTA offices (information sharing on-site with DTA caseworkers/ one-stop shopping for DTA clients);
· e-mail notification to families regarding reassessments and missing documents (with methods for confirming receipt); and
· limiting the twelve month reassessment to specific months ofthe year (perhaps coinciding with summer vacation and commencement ofthe school year), with the exception ofreassessments triggered by changes in circumstances, so that staff time and appointmentscan be maximized.
Upon receipt, EEC will review the proposals and award funds to CCR&Rs based in part on the number of eligibility files being transferred and the number of reassessments to be completed over the next seven months; the quantity and quality of efficiency proposals, as well as the feasibility and the degree to which the CCR&R can facilitate the implementation (on a short-term as well as long-term basis) will be reviewed. As with all ARRA funding recipients, CCR&Rswill be required to complete and file required reports regarding the use of such funds, including report on jobs maintained or created in accordance with state and federal laws.
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[1] A prior Request for Information (RFI) issued by EEC in preparation for the Income Eligible RFR further indicated support for conducting eligibility determination at a provider’s child care site; 65 % of the providers who responded to the RFI thought change would streamline the eligibility determination process and make it less confusing for families, and 50% indicated that it would be more efficient for providers. Providers noted the need for additional funding to support the proposed increase of responsibilities.
[2] The income eligible voucher management function constitutes approximately 46% of the overall CCR&R voucher caseload. With regard to the Income Eligible voucher caseload, EEC data indicates that 50% of voucher children are placed with providers or family child care systems that hold contracts with EEC. EEC data indicates that 8,292 income eligible vouchers are currently with contracted providers; approximately 5,514 of these vouchers are with the 127 providers and systems who indicated an interest in conducting voucher eligibility assessments.