STATE OF ALASKA

Department of Health and Social Services

Division of Public Assistance

TRANSMITTAL NUMBER:   2012-02

MANUAL:   Administrative Procedures Manual

DATE:  November 1, 2012

Several sections of the Administrative Procedures Manual have been revised in response to requests from staff and in response to suggestions made by the CANO Workgroup. Highlights of the revisions are described below.  

If you have any questions please contact Field Services at dpafield@alaska.gov or Policy and Program Development Team at dpapolicy@alaska.gov.

OVERVIEW OF CHANGES:

MS 100-3E    SUBPOENAS AND COURT ORDERS

• • Specifies a search warrant is a court ordered document. 

MS 103-2A REGISTERING AND FILING REQUEST FOR SERVICE APPLICATIONS

• • Corrects coding for request for service for CAMA and GRA.

MS 103-3C CASE NUMBERING RULES FOR DPA PROGRAMS

• • Adds an exception to clarify  Working Disabled Medicaid Buy-in, SLMB (Special Low Income Medicare Beneficiary), and cases with a qualifying income trust must have unique case numbers and may not be combined with any existing case number.

MS 104-3 TOOLS FOR EFFECTIVE CASELOAD MANAGEMENT (MACROS)

• Clarifies that the procedure for creating macros is the same in EIS and Bluezone.

MS 104-5 ALERTS

• • Removes several case management-related alerts from the list. These alerts were reprogrammed to only show in CMS and ICCIS and no longer in EIS:

-   C-alerts or case management alerts 

-   CC Rejected mm/dd/yy – mm/dd/yy

-   New Provider – xxxxxx-1zzzzzz

MS 105-9 VERIFICATION

• • Adds a new section providing guidance to staff on ensuring proof of citizenship and identity are in eligibility files.

MS 106-2 CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISCLOSURE INFORMATION

• • Clarifies that federal tax return data contained in the IRS interface must not be printed, mailed or sent by email. Also adds the requirement for employees with access to federal tax information to complete annual disclosure awareness training for safeguarding the information.

MS 108-2B REQUIRED NOTICE CONTENT

• • Adds Notes to subsections 1 and 2 instructing caseworkers to use only one denial or closure reason code in the denial or closure notice to the client.

MS 109-7 CANO DOCUMENTATION FOR SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

• • Removes Citizenship, Identity and Kinship/Relationship as a type of special casenote.

MS 109-8  TEMPLATES

• • Removes citizenship, Identity and Kinship/Relationship template in Addendum C

  • Renumbers Addenda D - F as C - E.

MS 109-9  ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES

• • Adds further clarification to the documentation procedure based on the results of the survey completed by staff, including:

  • Combined HHC and ROPD. Age has also been removed from this section and ETs are no longer required to document this information.

  • Removed the requirement to create a specialized CANO for citizenship and identity. This information is already addressed in the CANO format.

  • Changed Work Requirements/Disability to include Penalties (Work Requirements / Disability / Penalties)

  • Moved Interview Date section under App Date and BSD

  • Moved the first two bullets from under Interview Date section to under Address and Telephone to follow EIS sequence and entering information in EIS.

• Removes section on Documenting Citizenship, Identity and Kinship/Relationship.

• Renumbers the remainder of the section.

MS 117-1  FAIR HEARING REQUEST

• • Revises the procedure to include changes in the fair hearing process which resulted from the merge of the Office of Hearings and Appeals with the Office of Administrative Hearings.

MS 117-2  CONTINUED BENEFITS PENDING A FAIR HEARING

• • Revises section by removing mention of DPA's Hearing Authority.

MS 120-3 FEE AGENT SELECTION/APPLICATION PROCESS

• • Revises the procedure to include additional guidance in conducting interviews with fee agents and reference checks prior to making a selection.

MS 121-3(E) PROHIBITION AGAINST DPA EMPLOYEES

• • Clarifies when DPA employees are allowed to become authorized representatives or payees for public assistance cases.

MS 122  ELECTRONIC BENEFIT TRANSFER

• • Adds a new section to provide guidance on issuing and replacing Quest Cards including procedures on:
  • • Issuing a PIN,
    • Alternate and mandatory payees,
    • Out-of-state addresses,
    • Undeliverable cards,
    • Direct deposit, and
    • Card holder support.

ADDENDA 109 A - F

• Addendum 109 A - CANO Format was reorganized following suggestions made by CANO workgroup.

• Addendum 109 C - Citizenship, Identity and Kinship/Relationship CANO was deleted.

• Addendum 109 D - G were renumbered to C-F