Page 113

_____________________________________________________________________________ DIVISION OF WELFARE AND SUPPORTIVE SERVICES Child Care Policy Manual Note: The rate for part-time care is the least expensive daily rate divided by two. 654 Provider Payments Child care subsidy payments are paid directly to the provider. Other arrangements may be necessary in unusual circumstances and are made at the discretion of the Child Care and Development Program Agency Manager. Payment for the service period must be sent to the provider within 30 calendar days from the receipt of a timely and accurate submission of a Request for Reimbursement. Child Care staff is responsible to ensure the child care billings concur with the parent’s/guardian’s hours of participation in the approved purpose of care activity and the Customer/Child section of the Timesheet. If significant differences occur between the hours authorized on the child care Certificate and the hours indicated on the Timesheet, further investigation is warranted. Communication may also be necessary between payment staff, eligibility staff, and the child care case manager. For payments made based on an approved schedule, Child Care staff must compare the daily hours reported on the Timesheet to the Customer/Child Schedule section of the Timesheet in weekly increments. Minor discrepancies are acceptable and expected but when the child’s attendance varies significantly from the schedule, payments should be evaluated a week at a time to determine if the child is no longer attending or if an adjustment needs to be made to the schedule. No payment should be made in a week without any attendance unless there is a justifiable reason. 655 Payment Adjustments There may be times when a provider will bill for days when the child has attended, but was not authorized (e.g., the parent/guardian works an additional day, school gets out early for parent/teacher conferences). Prior to payment being made for the unscheduled time/day(s), it must be verified that another provider wasn’t paid for that day. Once verified, an adjustment to the provider payment must be made and the case manager must document the action in the computer system. Providers have 60 calendar days from the payment date to request an adjustment if they disagree with the amount of their payment. All payment adjustment requests must be resolved and responded to in writing by the Child Care office within 30 calendar days of the request. 656 Provider Underpayments CCR&R staff must resolve all provider underpayments in the next available reimbursement period from the date the underpayment is validated. If an underpayment is discovered as the result of a Management Evaluation or Quality Control review, the underpayment must be validated by the contracting agency. If the underpayment was due to a mistake of the contracting agency, the supplemental payment must be issued with the next available reimbursement period after validation. 657 Provider Overpayments 600-Provider Information [20] MTL 01/24 July 1, 2024