Colorado WIC Program Policies and Procedures Section 8: Certification, Eligibility and Coordination Revised: 01/01/2024

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Processing Standards

Policy: Local agencies will process all applications for Program benefits made either by phone, in writing, or in person within 10 or 20 days of contacting the local agency, depending on applicant category. All applicants found eligible must be given food benefits on the same day they are told they are eligible. Applicants include all persons who have never received WIC services, and any WIC participants whose certification period has ended.

• The following applicants must be screened and notified of program eligibility/ineligibility within 10 calendar days of the date of their first request for an appointment to receive program benefits: o Pregnant women. o Members of migrant populations. o Homeless individuals.

The State Office may provide an extension of the 10 day notification period to 15 days for local agencies that make a written request which includes a justification of the need for an extension and when the local agency expects to be back within processing standards. This extension allowance is only allowed for up to 90 days.

All other likely to be served applicants must be screened and notified of their eligibility/ineligibility within 20 calendar days of the date of their first request for an appointment to receive program benefits. Likely to be served applicants include all priority and age groups the agency is currently serving.

Exception: If the agency is at maximum caseload and funds are insufficient to support Colorado WIC Program’s active enrollment and the agency has approval from the State Office, these standards do not apply. See the Waiting List policy in the Caseload Management section for additional details.

Each local agency must routinely schedule appointments for applicants/participants who are employed or who live in rural areas by addressing their special needs through the adoption of procedures and practices to minimize the time participants and applicants must spend away from work and the distances applicants and participants must travel. This shall include at least one of the following procedures: appointment scheduling, adjustment of clinic hours and/or location, or remote benefit issuance.

Regulation: 7 CFR 246.7(f)

Procedure/Additional Guidance: The processing time frame begins with the applicant’s first visit, phone call or written request to the WIC clinic to request WIC Services and applies to all applicants regardless of whether or not they have been certified in the past.

When applicants contact the WIC clinic to request program benefits, follow these steps: 1. Determine if applicant may meet eligibility criteria. 2. Complete the New Member/Proxy pop-up window in Compass and enter the appropriate data including the applicant’s name, sex, date of birth, expected date of birth (for age 2 and under), race and ethnicity and category if the family member is not already in the Compass system. 3. Obtain the applicant’s address and phone number and enter into the Contact/Address fields within the Family/Intake panel in Compass. 4. Offer an appointment within the required timeframe and enter the appointment date, time and type in Compass Scheduler. Local agencies who do not use the Compass Scheduler must maintain an appointment log documenting the date of the first offered appointment. Clinics that are open only one or two days per month, offer an appointment within 10/20 days at another clinic.

5. If no appointments are available or if the applicant chooses to wait longer than the standard 10 or 20 days, a check mark will appear in the “Processing Standards Exceeded” box. Staff must select the applicable reason from the drop down list before the appointment can be saved. Available reasons are:

Colorado WIC Program Policies and Procedures Section 8: Certification, Eligibility and Coordination Revised: 01/01/2024

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a. Declined appointment offered – to be used when the client chooses not to accept an appointment offered by clinic staff that is within the processing standards timeframes and requests a later appointment on a more convenient day or time. b. No available appointments – to be used when the clinic does not have any appointments that can be offered to the client within the processing standard timeframes. c. Participant Rescheduled – to be used when the reason for exceeding the processing standards timeframe is because the client missed an earlier appointment or requested an appointment to be rescheduled for a later date. d. Staff Rescheduled – to be used when the reason for exceeding the processing standards timeframe is because staff need to reschedule an appointment for a later date. 6. Attempt to contact pregnant women who miss their first WIC appointment, to reschedule the appointment. 7. If an applicant or WIC participant does not keep their appointment the processing timeframe begins again when the applicant reapplies.