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BEM 100 9 of 18 INTRODUCTION BPB 2026-014 5-1-2026

BRIDGES ELIGIBILITY MANUAL STATE OF MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

• FIP, SDA, RCA, CDC, MA, and RMA Only A policy exception is needed based on unique and rare circum- stances in a specific case to avoid extreme and unusual hard- ship on the client. Note: For some programs, central office must determine whether the Federal Financial Participation (FFP) will be affected. When FFP cannot be claimed, MDHHS central office must notify their central office accounting and the MDHHS local office. Policy Exceptions Overrides There are three situations in Bridges for which policy exceptions overrides may be approved and certified. • The automated determination in Bridges has produced eligibility results inconsistent with existing policy for a specific case that needs to be corrected. Bridges eligibility results in the affected area are normally consistent with policy. Policy must review the individual case, determine the correct application of existing policy, and may need to manually determine eligibility and calculate benefits to apply the override. • Policy must be published and made effective before the policy rules or logic can be updated in Bridges. Policy exceptions overrides must be made to affect the official published policy until the policy rules and logic can be implemented in Bridges. • The published policy requires the use of an exceptions process in Bridges. Note: For some programs, central office must also determine the correct funding source when a manual eligibility determination has been made. This is because eligibility determinations made outside of the automated processes do not set the funding source required based on the combinations of characteristics in a specific case.