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SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTION 14000 14500 Treatment Centers 14360 Account Balances

14500 Treatment Centers

SNAP Manual 12/01/03 Narcotic addicts or alcoholics who reside at a facility, treatment center or certain mental health centers for the purpose of regular participation in a drug addiction or alcoholism treatment and/or rehabilitation program must be certified using an authorized representative (AR) who is an employee of the center. The AR is the only person who can access a client’s benefits while he or she is a resident of the treatment center. An EBT card will be issued to the resident at the center’s address. See SNAP 981.3 for instructions. Once the client leaves the facility, the county office must be so notified immediately. The county office must then take action to remove the center employee as the client’s authorized representative, and the center must give the EBT card to the resident at the time the resident leaves the facility. The resident will be instructed to call 1-800-997-9999 to request a new personal identification number (PIN) upon departure. If the center cannot give the EBT care to the resident when they depart, the card must be destroyed. The center may install a point of sale (POS) device to allow the AR to access the EBT benefits. Before a point of sale device may be installed, the facility must be approved by the USDA, Food and Nutrition Service. See SNAP 980. When a client leaves a treatment center that utilizes a POS device and is entitled to part of their benefits as explained in SNAP 981.5, the facility will do a SNAP purchase refund. This will debit the center’s daily transactions and credit the client’s SNAP benefit account. Another way for the facility to access the SNAP benefits is to determine a prorated daily amount based on that individual’s SNAP benefit amount. The facility will then swipe the card each week or every other week based on the cost of the client’s meals for that period. Centers not approved by Food and Nutrition Service must shop with the individual cards. In these centers, the ARs must carefully monitor the use of the cards to insure that one-half of the regular monthly benefits are left in the client’s account until the 16th of the month.