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Department of Health and Human Services CCDF Rate Structure FAQ
“Helping People Live Better Lives”
| pg. 1 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Rate Structure Changes Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Background The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 reauthorized the law governing the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Program. Changes made with this reauthorization focused on strengthening child care to better support the success of both parents and children and emphasizing the importance of high-quality child care. With the reauthorization of the Block Grant in 2014, state Child Care Lead Agencies were required to adopt payment practices that reflect generally accepted payment practices of child care providers serving children who do not receive CCDF subsidies. To meet compliance, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Lead Agency for Nebraska, restructured payments to reflect part-time or full-time basis rather than paying for hours of service or smaller increments of time. This helps to ensure equal access to high-quality child care programs for subsidy-eligible children by making subsidy practices comparable to child care services for children who are not eligible under CCDF. Purpose Beginning July 1, 2023, child care providers participating in the DHHS Child Care Subsidy Program will no longer bill Hour and Day units. • Hour Units will be replaced with Partial Day Units, and Day Units will be replaced with Full Day Units. • Any time a child attends up to 4 hours and 59 minutes, providers will now bill 1 Partial Day Unit. • Any time a child attends between 5 hours to 9 hours and 59 minutes, providers will now bill 1 Full Day Unit. • Any time a child attends between 10 hours up to the maximum of 18 hours in one day, providers will now bill 1 Full Day Unit AND 1 Partial Day Unit. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 1. Q: Will these changes affect the absent-day policies? A: No, providers may still bill up to 5 absent days per month when a child would normally be in attendance. These absent days will be billed as 1 full day unit regardless of the number of hours the child would have attended. 2. Q: Will providers be receiving a letter outlining these changes? A: All providers will receive a Rate Amendment Letter with these rate changes to inform them of the new rates for Partial Days and Full Days. 3. Q: What if my rates are less than the Child Care Subsidy rates? Will I still have to bill what my private pay rates are?