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DDES Memo Series 2004-02
DCFS Memo Series 2004-03

February 2, 2004

STATE OF WISCONSIN
Department of Health and Family Services
Division of Disability and Elder Services
Division of Children and Family Services

To:
Area Administrators/Assistant Area Administrators
Bureau Directors
County Departments of Community Programs Directors
County Departments of Developmental Disabilities Services Directors
County Departments of Human Services Directors
County Departments of Social Services Directors
Licensing Chiefs/Section Chiefs
Tribal Chairpersons/Human Services Facilitators

From: 
Sinikka Santala, Administrator
Division of Disability and Elder Services

Kitty Kocol, Administrator
Division of Children and Family Services

Re: HSRS to WISACWIS Transition

As counties implement the Wisconsin Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (WiSACWIS), they cease reporting out-of-home placements in the Child Substitute Care (CSC) Module of the Human Services Reporting System (HSRS). 

The transition from the CSC Module to WiSACWIS includes entering out-of-home placements in WiSACWIS and reporting financial payment information in WiSACWIS either through interfaces with local fiscal systems or manual entry of payment information. Following conversion to WiSACWIS, child placement cases remain open in the CSC Module until closed by state HSRS staff.

The financial payment information needed for out-of-home placements in WiSACWIS includes the Cost of Care, refunds such as child support that offset the Cost of Care, check numbers, and check dates. 

This payment information is needed to support state claims for federal Title IV-E and Title XIX funds for children in placement. The payment information also serves as the basis for federal and state audits of the Title IV-E and Title XIX programs.

HSRS is used to collect information on a broad range of human service programs and HSRS data is used to meet federal and state reporting requirements for a number of programs.

While WiSACWIS replaces the need to report out-of-home placements in the CSC Module, HSRS Core reporting requirements for other target populations such as Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and reporting requirements for other HSRS Modules remain in place following implementation of WiSACWIS.

Timeframe for WiSACWIS Fiscal Implementation: A county is permitted a period of parallel financial processing following the initial WiSACWIS implementation to allow for data corrections before check numbers and dates must be recorded in WiSACWIS. 

It is recommended that this period not exceed four (4) months from the date of WiSACWIS implementation. During this parallel processing period, Bureau of Fiscal Services (BFS) staff in the Department of Health and Family Services will continue to use HSRS reports for claiming federal funds for out-of-home placements for counties. 

During the parallel processing period, counties must continue to maintain child payment records in the CSC Module. This includes changes in Cost of Care, changes in placement, exits from care (case closures), and new entries to care (new cases) to ensure that the amount of federal funds claimed for cases in the county is accurate.

Entering of Financial Payment Data: As part of the WiSACWIS implementation process, counties identify the expected begin date for entry of financial payment information into WiSACWIS. Based on the date counties begin entering the check number/check date for financial payments, BFS staff will discontinue using HSRS reports and begin using WiSACWIS reports for that month. Federal Title IV-E and XIX funds claimed for county cases from that point forward will be based on the WiSACWIS financial data. 

Therefore, it is critical for a county to enter the check number/check date, either manually or through a financial interface, in WiSACWIS according to the planned schedule. If delays are encountered in WiSACWIS financial reporting, a revised financial implementation date must be established with WiSACWIS staff. BFS staff will monitor the entering of financial payment data and will work with WiSACWIS staff and county staff when discrepancies in reporting periods are noted.

Certification Form: A certification form stating that a county has successfully transitioned to entering financial data into WiSACWIS must be submitted to BFS within 90 calendar days of the first day of the financial implementation month. For counties already doing financial reporting in WiSACWIS, the certification form must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the receipt of this memo.

Entering of Refund Information: Children may have payment information entered in the CSC Module for placements prior to WiSACWIS fiscal conversion. Refunds, such as child support, that offset unrecovered pre-WiSACWIS placement costs from previous periods may be received after WiSACWIS fiscal conversion. These refunds are to be documented using the non-WiSACWIS Benefit Window made operational with the January 12, 2004 WiSACWIS Release. For refunds received by counties:

Children with no WiSACWIS placement record: Counties are to enter refunds for unrecovered pre-WiSACWIS placement costs for non-WiSACWIS children into the Non-WiSACWIS Benefit Window. The Non-WiSACWIS Benefit Window will allow refunds to be entered in WiSACWIS for children without a WiSACWIS placement record.

Children with a WiSACWIS placement record: Once the county records check numbers and dates in WiSACWIS for a given calendar month, the county should begin to record refunds received for WiSACWIS children into the Trust Account Module of WiSACWIS. 

The county should continue reporting in WiSACWIS until the outstanding Cost of Care for the child is zero. If refunds continue to be received by the county, and the outstanding Cost of Care is zero, the county should enter these refunds, for unrecovered pre-WiSACWIS placement costs, into the Non-WiSACWIS Benefit Window.

Example: A child has a Cost of Care = $400/month. The county starts recording check numbers and dates in WiSACWIS for April Cost of Care.

1) If the child left care at the end of April, WiSACWIS will have an outstanding Cost of Care of $400. If the county received more than $400 in refunds from April forward, the amount greater than $400 for unrecovered pre-WiSACWIS placement costs should be recorded in the Non-WiSACWIS Benefit Window.

2) If the child left care at the end of March, WiSACWIS will have no outstanding Cost of Care. Hence, all refunds for unrecovered pre-WiSACWIS placement costs received for this child should be recorded in the Non-WiSACWIS Benefit Window.

3) If the child remains in care, WiSACWIS will continue to accrue outstanding an Cost of Care of $400/month. Any refunds received, so long as the outstanding amount is greater than zero, should be recorded in the Trust Account Module of WiSACWIS. Once the outstanding Cost of Care is zero, then the Trust Account can be closed and refunds for unrecovered pre-WiSACWIS placement costs received from that point on should be recorded in the Non-WiSACWIS Benefit Window.

HSRS Client ID: The Person Management Window in WiSACWIS contains a field for the HSRS Client ID. The HSRS Client ID should be entered for cases converted from the CSC Module to WiSACWIS to allow for cross-matches between HSRS and WiSACWIS.

Child Support Reports from KIDS: WiSACWIS state staff notify KIDS state staff of the fiscal reporting start date for counties. The notification of the fiscal reporting start date triggers the acceptance by KIDS of the WiSACWIS Cost of Care amounts. The child support reports containing data from KIDS will indicate the children whose costs are from WiSACWIS and the children whose costs are not from WiSACWIS.

Closing of HSRS CSC Module Cases: State staff in the Division of Disability and Elder Services HSRS Unit will assume responsibility for closing cases in the CSC Module. The closing of cases will be done after BFS staff confirm with the county that entering fiscal information in WiSACWIS is fully operational. 

Counties will be notified of the case closure date. Cases will be closed in mass with the closure date being the last day of the month preceding the first service month that fiscal information is entered in WiSACWIS. The reason for the case closing will be Transfer to WiSACWIS, HSRS closure code 99.

HSRS Reports: CSC Module cases will continue to show on HSRS reports until the cases are closed. CSC Module cases will continue to show up on historical reports for periods prior to the month of a HSRS case closure.

Medicaid Waiver Program Placements: Counties may have children in out-of-home placements who are participants in the Community Integration Program (CIP) or other Medicaid community-based waiver programs. For these children, the out-of-home placement and other child welfare program activity such as Child in Need of Protection or Services (CHIPS) court orders must be entered into WiSACWIS. 

Services provided using Medicaid waiver program funds must be reported in the Long Term Support Module of HSRS. Many of these children will be recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and the SSI payments are recorded as refunds offsetting the Cost of Care.

Other Human Services: Children and family members who have records in WiSACWIS may be receiving human services from mental health, substance abuse, birth to three and other programs with HSRS reporting requirements. 

Services provided for these other program must be reported in HSRS in the Core or appropriate Module as directed by HSRS reporting requirements. Reporting in HSRS for these programs is essential to meet federal reporting requirements applicable to these programs.

942/943 Report: All counties must complete the semi-annual 942/943 report for human service program expenditures. Child welfare program expenditures must continue to be included in the 942/943 report following implementation of WiSACWIS.

CENTRAL OFFICE CONTACTS:

BFS Fiscal: 
Cindy Schultz
Financial Management Supervisor
Phone (608) 266-7295
Email schulcl1@wisconsin.gov |

WiSACWIS:
Beth Wydeven
WiSACWIS Program Manager
Phone (608) 261-6851
Email wydevba@wisconsin.gov

HSRS:
SOS Help Desk
Phone (608) 267-2437
Email soshelp@wisconsin.gov

MEMO WEB SITE: http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/partners/local.htm

Attachment: Fiscal certification form (below)

____________________________________________________________

County: ________________

100% of the financial data (check numbers/dates) for child-specific Cost of Care for out-of-home placements has been entered into WiSACWIS effective with _________________ (month/year).

Prior to the date referenced above, financial data for child-specific Cost of Care for out-of-home placements has been entered into the CSC Module of HSRS for the Cost of Care for _________________ (month/year). This includes both payment and refund information.

Refund information will be entered as follows:

Children with no WiSACWIS placement record: Counties are to enter refunds for non-WiSACWIS children into the Non-WiSACWIS Benefit Window.

Children with a WiSACWIS placement record: Once the county records check numbers and dates in WiSACWIS for a given calendar month, the county should begin to record refunds received for WiSACWIS children into the Trust Account Module of WiSACWIS. The county should continue reporting in WiSACWIS until the outstanding Cost of Care for the child is zero. If refunds continue to be received by the county, and the outstanding Cost of Care is zero, the county should record these refunds into the Non-WiSACWIS Benefit Window.

_______________________________/_________________________/_____________
Signature                                                        Title                                                  Date

_______________________________/_________________________/_____________
Printed Name                                                  Email Address                              Phone number

The completed form is to be sent to:

Greg West
Department of Health and Family Services
Bureau of Fiscal Services
P.O. Box 7850
Madison, WI 53701-7850

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