MEMORANDUM

DATE:          April 17, 2001

TO:               Adult Public Assistance Manual Holders

FROM:         Policy and Program Development Team

SUBJECT: Adult Public Assistance Manual Change #2

Earlier this year, federal regulations were changed to promote employment for disabled persons who want to work. As a result, this manual change updates the substantial gainful activity amount used in making disability determinations and increases the earned income exclusion for a blind or disabled student child. This manual change also simplifies the processing of annual reviews for SSISupplemental Security Income recipients.

Changes to the substantial gainful activity amount and the earned income exclusion for a blind or disabled child are effective January 1, 2001. The guidance on processing annual reviews for SSISupplemental Security Income recipients is effective April 1, 2001.

Explanation of Manual Changes

Implementation Guidelines for Reviews for SSISupplemental Security Income Recipients

AsAlaska Statute a result of last year’s Business Analysis and Process Design Conference, field staff representatives made several suggestions for streamlining the operation of the Adult Public Assistance (APA ) program. One of these suggestions was to streamline the annual APAAdult Public Assistance reviews for SSISupplemental Security Income recipients.  SSISupplemental Security Income recipients make up about 60 percent of our statewide APAAdult Public Assistance caseload. Our long-term goal is to fully automate the annual APAAdult Public Assistance review process for those APAAdult Public Assistance recipients who also receive SSISupplemental Security Income benefits. Essentially, this means the Eligibility Information System (EIS ) will automatically check for Alaska residency and SSISupplemental Security Income recipient status, and re-certify the APAAdult Public Assistance / SSI recipient for another year. Non- SSI recipients will continue to have their annual APAAdult Public Assistance reviews processed the same as before.  

Part of the necessary programming has now been completed. That is, for APAAdult Public Assistance / SSI recipients whose EISEligibility Information System review period ends April 2001 or later, EISEligibility Information System will no longer mail APAAdult Public Assistance Review Due notices and APAAdult Public Assistance review applications to APAAdult Public Assistance recipients who receive SSISupplemental Security Income benefits. However, programming to automatically check Alaska residency and SSISupplemental Security Income recipient status, and recertify the APAAdult Public Assistance / SSI recipient for another year has not yet been completed. Until the new APAAdult Public Assistance review process for SSISupplemental Security Income recipients is fully automated, we have established some interim procedures to reduce paperwork and alleviate your APAAdult Public Assistance workload as much as possible.  

Interim Procedures:  

• Review your monthly caseload report, CR001, at the beginning of the month to identify those APAAdult Public Assistance / SSI cases that need to be reviewed and reauthorized for another year.  The first month this must be done is April 2001.
  
• Register a review APAAdult Public Assistance application on EISEligibility Information System for the identified SSISupplemental Security Income recipients.
  
• Confirm the individual’s Alaska residency and SSISupplemental Security Income recipient status through the use of the SVESState Verification Exchange System interface or other available information. If the APAAdult Public Assistance recipient meets these two criteria, APAAdult Public Assistance benefits may be approved for another year.
  
• Use alerts to identify APAAdult Public Assistance / SSI cases that still need to be reviewed and processed. An EISEligibility Information System alert will be generated at the end of the month if a review application was not registered on EISEligibility Information System. Alerts of this type must be acted on immediately so that the individual’s APAAdult Public Assistance benefits are delayed no longer than necessary.
  
• Do not send an EISEligibility Information System notice once the review is completed. Because SSISupplemental Security Income recipients are not required to submit an annual review application, it is no longer necessary to send them an EISEligibility Information System notice (i.e., P802) to advise them that their APAAdult Public Assistance review has been completed.

Please address any questions or comments to the Policy and Program Development Team by e-mail at dpapolicy@health.state.ak.us, or call us at 465-3347. The explanation of the manual changes and the affected manual sections are described below.

Manual Change Filing Instructions