Below are Questions and Answers Posted Prior to May 2006

Questions may be posed by contacting either of the following e-mail addresses: wdeschen@mail.nysed.gov  or sbrumber@mail.nysed.gov .

All questions sent to or forwarded to either of these e-mail addresses will be posted here.

Procedure for Processing Supported Employment Payments Where Adjustments Are Required to Initial Vouchers-May, 2005

For SE reimbursement, effective 7/1/04, 416 reports must be submitted by providers and serve as the basis of all SE reimbursement. This includes the data converted from the NYISER data for the first quarter (7/1-9/30/04) *. In order to assure that reimbursements are made to providers in both a timely and verified manner and to catch up on earned units which have not been paid, VESID will compare the amounts vouchered on the mainframe to date as shown on the SE Utilization Report (416 report total) to the amounts paid to date.   If the mainframe vouchered amount is higher than the amount paid to date, VESID will notify the SE provider that they are entitled to a supplemental payment.   In order to make this supplemental payment, a request for payment will be made by the provider to the VESID Contract Unit on a supplemental standard voucher.  Payment will be made upon receipt of this signed supplemental voucher.

PLEASE NOTE: The mainframe vouchered amount is the total of the 416s submitted minus any that have been rejected.  This amount may, and often is, different from the standard voucher amount as submitted by the provider to the Contracts Unit in Central Office.  It is very important that both the DO and the provider understand that the supplemental payment is the difference between the mainframe vouchered amount and what has already been paid AND NOT the difference between the standard voucher submitted by the provider to the Contract Unit and the amount already paid.

* For the first quarter (7/1-9/30/04), in instances where billable hours reported by the provider on NYISER  was inaccurate or incomplete, the provider must submit a 416 report, however, instead of submitting a 416 report for each month of the first quarter period, may submit a single 416 report for each individual to correct billable hours for the entire quarter (one form per individual for 3 months).

Note that the above method will not "fix" the following problems:

- The provider has submitted 416 reports which total less than the 25% amount advanced to that provider at the beginning of the contract period.

- The provider is billing against their program budget and not against actual services provided as documented by 416 reports.

- The provider is not submitting 416 reports for every individual and/or has not submitted 416 reports for the first quarter if their NYISER reporting was inaccurate or incomplete (see above).

- The provider is not submitting standard vouchers or used the wrong rate on the vouchers.

- VESID entered the dollar amount when vouchering but not the number of units.

- VESID entered the wrong rate on the authorization and/or the voucher.

Question: Agencies are processing referrals now that will be served prior to and after the start of any new contracts. It is most likely they will start services with a voucher for one service then have to continue providing services when they don't know if the service they offer will even be approved under the new contract. Also, the rate may differ, depending on what services they bid on and are approved. This scenario is posing a major dilemma for many providers. Should agencies set a cut off date for accepting new referrals? Especially as it gets closer to July 1 and there is no award letter to the agency?

Response: Providers will certainly agree that we (VESID and providers) do not want to do anything which could delay consumer services or cause any break in services due to contractual issues. VESID has completed its review of the UCS applications and is awaiting approval of this very large package of contracts (approx. 250 new contracts which include approx. 1,000 programs) from the state's fiscal authorities. Given the size of the package, it is likely that VESID will not be able to issue authorizations against the new contracts in order to assure both timely starts for new referrals and ongoing services which cross over 7/1/05. VESID is currently developing specific methods to assure the continuation of services as new contracts are finalized. Both VESID staff and providers will receive these instructions. This may require procedures to provide replacement authorizations, under established VESID internal controls, as necessary to assure that providers are reimbursed for such services.Meanwhile, current UCS authorizations will not be extended beyond 6/30/05, however, current providers should assume that VESID consumers will remain in program and payments will be made for continued services unless otherwise instructed.

Question: Summer Youth Employment program. Consumers are being referred for services now, but, in some cases, may not start until after July 1. Current rates are different that new contract - Will VESID still honor current rates after July 1, or will the agency be forced to accept the new rates? Agencies need to know the answer to this before June 1, as this affects who gets referred and scheduling for hiring Job Coaches for the Summer.

Response: Current rates cannot be honored after 7/1/05. (Note that many of them are higher after that date.) See response to #1 regarding ongoing services.

Question: Job Placement Services - under the current contract, prior to July 1, an agency has one rate. The new rate, which is broken up into more discrete milestone payments, would result in agency getting less for the rehab, which will occur anywhere from 1-90 days into the new contract year. Will VESID honor the old rate until the service is completed?

Response: First, it must be noted that most placement rates were not affected by the new UCS contracts as the RFA specifically stated that current rates were to remain the same. If there are differences which cross into the new contract year, that portion of services must be paid at the new rate which will be in effect as of 7/1/05.

Question: Starting someone in WAT program, will services to these people have to end if an agency does not have our license as a proprietary school?

Response: WAT programs are not affected by the licensing requirement. Perhaps this question relates to former SVT programs that opted to not seek licensure and shift to WAT status. In those instances, the new WAT rate will apply as of 7/1/05 and services will continue without impact.

Question: Will new DVE and WAT rates go into effect July 1, 2005? Response: Yes

Question: An agency was informed that as long as they submitted Proprietary School proposal to provide Stock/Inventory Training to the Department of State before June 30th, they could continue to provide the current SVT Retail Training Program until the new SVT program is approved because it has a very similar curriculum. Is this correct?

Response: Yes, services will not be interrupted. All BPSS licensed services purchased by VESID will be funded by a set of contracts separate from UCS contracts. SVT programs will not be included in the new UCS contracts. As licenses and rates are approved for these services, VESID will issue contracts specific to these services. In the interim, services will be authorized at current rates in order to maintain services.

Question: Speaking of SVT’s - what is the status of the rates for SVT’s moving to BPSS? Has the negotiations been completed? Will there still be caps?

Response: VESID has requested current rates from all current BPSS-licensed services purchased by VESID. These are due to VESID by late May. VESID will utilize this data to develop a rate protocol for all BPSS-licensed programs. This protocol will be applied to both proprietary and not-for-profit licensed programs.

Question: If an agency has SVT established sites that are at this time not looking like they will be able to attain a Certificate of Occupancy, what would you recommend? Will any agencies be “grandfathered in?”

Response: VESID does not make decisions regarding BPSS licensing but will work with BPSS to minimize the effect upon services.

Question: An agency recently was approved for a Basic Educational Data System code – does that waive any of the other requirements for BPSS?

Response: VESID cannot answer that question. It should be posed by the provider directly to BPSS.

Question: If services were on an agency’s current UCS contract and applied for as instructed by VESID – will they be renewed?

Response: Not necessarily. Providers will not have this information until they receive their award letters from VESID in response to their UCS application. However, services will be continued until such notice is made and new contracts are in place. In (rare) instances where a current program is not continued, VESID will work with the provider to assure payments are made for all services provided and to assure that consumers are appropriately served in alternative services.

Question: Is it VESID’s understanding that if a case is already open for Supported Employment services and additional hours are needed, then the new authorization should start the day AFTER the first one ends? Meaning there should not be an issue of backdating if the case is open?

Response: Ideally, the new authorization should start on the day after the previous one ends, however, VESID counselors don't always know the exact date when hours will be used up and will usually overlap authorization dates whereby the second authorization will have a start date just prior to the end date of the first authorization.

Question: When will agencies have new contract (UCS and SE) amounts?

Response: For SE Intensive, providers should already know their level of funding. As VESID described on the SE website, the assumption was made that, for most contracts, yr. 01 Intensive funding would carry over to yr 02. VESID did not make decisions for yr 02 funding based upon actual contract performance except in instances where there was very substantial over or under performance. In those instances, DOs have contacted providers and VESID has also notified providers of its intent to increase a number of Intensive services amounts necessary to meet consumer needs. Actual contracts for yr 02 for SE will be sent out in June. For UCS, VESID is awaiting permission from the state's fiscal authorities to send out award notices and we expect that will be in early June. See response to question #1 above for more information.

Question: What happens in a situation where an agency has received an amended contract letter but the actual changed contracts were never received? Which holds true – letter or actual contract?

Response: The amended SE contracts for the current year are currently being prepared but have not yet been sent out. Pending approval by the State Comptroller's Office, we fully expect that the amended/increased amounts will apply.

Question: How does VESID see Summer employment and summer assessment of youth to be authorized and funded? Which contract and with what rates?
Response: See response to #2 above.

Question: Has VESID set up a process to inquire/reconcile hours billed versus hours processed for payment month by month?

Response:, In order to assure that providers are not penalized, VESID is currently developing a method by which SE providers will be reimbursed for all appropriately vouchered and documented services. In instances where individual authorizations and vouchers still require reconciliation, we will cooperate with providers to do so. New instructions to simplify this process are currently being developed and will soon be distributed to district offices and to providers.

Question: Will VESID be honoring the vouchers that all expire 6/30/05 or does an agency need to request new vouchers before providing services 7/1/05?

Response: Yes, to both questions.

Question: Due to delays of VESID opening MH cases, monies allocated for this population in present contract have not fully been used – this is not then a performance issue on the part of the community agency. So, it is our understanding that VESID will allow these funds to rollover to contract year 2, correct?

Response: VESID may not roll-over contract funds from either UCS or SE contracts. The state's fiscal authorities do not permit such a method. New contract levels are to reflect the needs for that contract period.

Question: City agencies working with more than one borough office continue to ask what standardization is happening to ensure that their own staff can provide services in a consistent manner for a consumer?

Response: When all of the new UCS contracts are in place, all VESID contracts in NYC will be citywide contracts for the first time. In addition, coordination of all NYC practices is currently an important VESID effort necessary to assure that reporting, reimbursement and authorization practices are consistent across the city and consistent with statewide requirements and practices.

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