SR 98-10 Dated 04/98

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

This SR/PD releases the official Manuals for various program policy, developed in conjunction with New HEIGHTS, the computer system which is scheduled, in October, 1998, to replace the current Eligibility Management System (EMS) used by Division of Family Assistance (DFA) and Division of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) to determine eligibility for services. This SR/PD also makes obsolete all former versions of these manuals.

The specific volumes released by this SR/PD are:

 The Family Assistance Manual (FAM) - containing DFA policy for NHEP and FAP financial assistance, Medicaid eligibility, NHEP Work Programs, and Child Care assistance.

 The Food Stamp Manual (FSM) - containing DFA policy for the Food Stamp Program.

 The Adult Assistance Manual (AAM) - containing DFA policy for the State Supplement and Medicaid programs for the adult categories of assistance.

 The ""Family Services Children’s Eligibility Manual (FSCEM) - containing DCYF policy governing DCYF eligibility programs.

 Policy Releases - containing Supervisory Releases (SR) and Policy Directives (PD) from 1994 through the most current releases which relate to policies contained in the above policy manuals (not available to hard copy holders).

These manuals reflect current policy as of the effective date of this SR/PD, and will be updated to reflect any changes of subsequent SR’s/PD’s with additional automatic releases of revised material.

The hard copy policy manuals made obsolete by this SR/PD are:

 The Family Assistance Manual (FAM) - DFA

 The Adult Assistance Manual (AAM) - DFA

 The Family Services Children’s Eligibility Manual (FSCEM) - DCYF

BACKGROUND

One of the requirements for the New HEIGHTS system is to provide automated screen and policy help linked to a variety of its data entry and/or inquiry screens. In order to satisfy part of this requirement, the existing hard copy policy manuals needed to be made available in an electronic format so that they could be linked to the various New HEIGHTS screens. Currently, all manual holders receive official releases of policy in paper format, while future releases would be in a variety of formats including on-line manuals (OM) for DHHS staff.

The team overseeing development of the OM subsystem of New HEIGHTS was assigned the task of formatting the electronic versions of these manuals, and determining the best methods to access policy for a wide range of manual holders both inside and outside of the Department. The OM team includes representatives from DFA, DCYF, OIS and Deloitte & Touche Consulting, operating under contract to develop the New HEIGHTS system. In addition to New HEIGHTS screen sensitive policy links, distribution of and access to policy is required through other methods in order to accommodate various non-New HEIGHTS manual holders. The OM team determined that primary access would be provided through a Windows help file format independent of the New HEIGHTS application. Access would also be provided through the Internet, and some holders of manuals would continue to receive hard copy distribution.

The OM team also determined that there could be only one official source of policy in order to ensure consistent presentation of policy to all users of the various manuals receiving or accessing policy through any of the distribution methods. As a result, OM will be used as the single source of official policy from which New HEIGHTS screen sensitive policy links will be maintained, Internet files will be created and updated, and hard copy manuals and pages will be produced and distributed. To maintain accuracy and consistency of policy for all manuals holders, no SR or PD which changes the policy contained in OM will be released independent of an official release of OM.

The former Family Assistance Manual contained program eligibility requirements for a variety of public assistance programs and/or categories of assistance, as well as program policy for the Food Stamp program. Whenever necessary or appropriate, public assistance program policy was displayed in a side-by-side format with comparable Food Stamp policy. The OM team evaluated this display format and determined that the side-by-side format would present undesirable limitations to the viewing of policy on-line. Numerous reformatting concepts were reviewed, and the team ultimately decided to separate the Food Stamp policy from the existing Family Assistance Manual and create the new Food Stamp Manual. Accordingly, the new Family Assistance Manual no longer contains Food Stamp policy.

Concurrent with the development of OM, DCYF determined a need to release a manual for eligibility policy related to IV-E financial and medical assistance, non IV-E Medicaid, and IV-A emergency assistance programs for children receiving services while in the care of DCYF. These policies were not contained in the existing DFA manuals but needed to be linked to various New HEIGHTS screens. DCYF released the hard copy version of the Family Services Children's Eligibility Manual (FSCEM) via PD 97-16, effective December 1, 1997.

The current hard copy manuals identify an SR/PD number and effective date for each page of policy. A major distinction between paper manuals and OM is that pages no longer exist. Since the FSCEM was only recently released and there have been no PD’s issued to change it, all of its parts and sections are linked to PD 97-16 dated 12/97. For the FAM, FSM and AAM, extensive research was conducted to link every manual part and section to the SR number and effective date which most recently affected a change to that part or section. Except for the revised policies listed in the policy section below, each OM part or section contains the same SR/PD numbers and effective dates which released each part or section of its former hard copy manual.

Organization and Use of OM Policy Manuals

Regardless of the method of access, the organization of each manual is identical. Much effort was made to structure OM policy manuals as similarly as possible to the previous hard copy manuals. Each of the on-line policy manuals consists of a title page, chapter index (entitled "Navigating the xx Manual"), an introduction to the particular manual, a section of "SR’s Retained in the xx Manual," the policy topics contained in the manual, and, finally, the Glossary for that manual.

Special procedures are available for DHHS staff accessing manuals through OM. OM provides extensive search and cross-reference capabilities. All of the on-line policy manuals are "hyperlinked" so that the user may navigate through a manual or "jump" from manual to manual when appropriate. Hyperlinks are identified on screen as green underlined text. Consequently, the former manuals’ Keyword Index has been eliminated, since OM can be searched by activating the "Find" button and entering any word or text string. All the topics are also included in a browse sequence and index. This enables the reader to locate specific policy topics by using built-in search functions.

All the manuals are also linked to the Supervisory Releases/Policy Directives Manual to enable the user to read the SR or PD that released or modified any policy.

Note: Hard copy (paper) versions of OM are not "hyperlinked," and all text in the hard copy versions will appear black. The Internet versions will only have intramanual navigation capability, i.e., hyperlinks to other parts of the same manual will appear as blue underlined text. Neither of these versions provides intermanual navigation.

Upon opening an OM file, the readers will see the "Contents" tab graphically display the organization, or "Table of Contents," of topics within an OM file. The book and page icons represent the relationship of topics as a hierarchy, much like an outline in a word processing program. OM uses icons of books and pages to represent the position of topics within this hierarchy.

The organization of policy in OM follows the same organization as the original hard copy manuals. The books and topics displayed in OM correspond to the chapters, parts and sections of the original hard copy manuals. Policy chapters appear as small books within which additional books are contained for the various parts of a chapter. Books are initially represented by a closed-book icon ( ). Clicking on that icon changes it to an open-book icon ( ), and the subordinate books or topics are displayed. Clicking on a book does not display any actual help topics; it merely displays the list of sub-books or topic pages within the book. Policy sections or topics appear as pages or files within the parts. A topic is represented by a topic page icon ( ). Clicking on that icon will result in the Windows Help program displaying the actual manual topic.

For example, the Family Assistance Manual Help file has major chapters, such as 100 CASE PROCESSING, 200 PROGRAM CRITERIA, 300 NON-FINANCIAL CRITERIA, etc. In the OM Contents Tab, the first level would contain these books, one for each chapter. Within each chapter, there are parts. 300 NON-FINANCIAL CRITERIA is divided into 301 IDENTITY, 303 RESIDENCY, etc. with each book represented as a sub-book of the chapter. Each part is further subdivided into sections. Part 301 contains subdivisions or topics such as 301.01 Application, 301.03 Case Membership Changes, etc.

The main help window for any manual is the default window in which a topic is displayed. It usually appears smaller than the full-screen in size, though its size can be changed to suit the user’s preference. It contains "browse" buttons (the two << and >> buttons) allowing the user to move forward and backward within the manual (much like turning pages in a paper book), as well as buttons allowing the reader to print the topic or perform other functions. Horizontal and vertical scroll bars appear when the amount of information exceeds the screen size.

Each topic "page" is headed by the number and title of the topic, followed by the current SR/PD number and date and, if applicable, a hyperlink to Previous Policy, as below:

207.03 Eligible Dependent Child (FAM)

SR 97-09 Dated 03/97    Previous Policy

___________________________________________________________

The text of the policy follows the above header. There are no page footers or page numbers regardless of the method of access to the policy manuals.

Within any section of policy there may be references to other relevant policy parts or sections. In OM, those references have been converted to hyperlinks used to navigate quickly to related policy topics that are mentioned in the text. For example, section 207.03 of the FAM also suggests that the reader "See Part 217...." By using the computer’s "mouse" to click on the hyperlinked text, the reader is instantly taken to the relevant part or section.

In addition, all of the OM policy manuals are linked to their respective archive manuals. These archives are the repository for modified, superseded or deleted policy. The archives will enable the reader to do historical research and compare previous versions of online archived policy and procedures (starting with October 1997) with the current version. Older archived policy remains in paper form and is available from the DFA or DCYF policy units. The words "Previous Policy" appear at the top of each screen for a policy part or section, even if no archived policy exists. If archived policy exists for a particular subject, the words "Previous Policy" will appear as a green underlined hyperlink. Clicking on this hyperlink will display a list of available archived policy for the part/section of policy being viewed.

At this time, there are few archived policies, since this method of archiving only began with the development of New HEIGHTS and OM. However, the available archives will continue to grow as additional SR’s and PD’s are released. Current manual holders may wish to keep their original manuals for reference purposes to access previous policy which has not been archived through OM.

Printing Help Topics

To print a manual topic, select the topic page icon and click on the Print button at the bottom of the Table of Contents window. You can print a group of related topics by clicking a book in the Table of Contents and then clicking Print. Note: Selecting a book icon and clicking on the Print button will cause all the topics in the book to be printed. For example, clicking on the icon for Chapter 200 will cause all topics contained in that Chapter to be printed.

To print a currently displayed manual topic, click the Print button or the Options button, and then click Print Topic. You can also use your right mouse button to click inside the Help window, and then click Print Topic.

POLICY

This SR/PD also releases various DFA policy changes and policy clarifications as well as technical changes or corrections to the FAM, FSM, and AAM. The released material is grouped according to category - policy changes, policy clarifications, and technical changes/corrections - and indicates the specific Part or Section revised.

203  TANF - FAM

217.01 When Separate Medical Assistance Groups Are Required - FAM

315.01  Definition of Voluntary Quit - FAM

409  COMMON TYPES OF RESOURCES, Burial Fund - FAM

808.05  Temporary Exemptions from NHEP Participation - FAM

808.35 Sanctions for Voluntary Quit or Failure or Refusal to Cooperate with NHEP Program Participation Requirements - FAM

901.01 Filing an Application - FAM

943  PAYMENT FOR NON-CONTRACT PROVIDER SERVICES - FAM

133.01  Very Stable Households - FSM

409  COMMON TYPES OF RESOURCES - Burial Fund - FSM

603.09  Other Allowable Deductions, Medical Deduction

619  CORRECTIVE PAYMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFITS - FSM

203  CATEGORICAL REQUIREMENTS - AAM

209  AID TO THE PERMANENTLY AND TOTALLY DISABLED - AAM

313  LEGAL LIABILITIES OF COUNTIES - AAM

Policy Changes

In FAM Section 217.01, When Separate Medical Assistance Groups Are Required, two situations requiring establishment of separate MA assistance groups were deleted.

 Previous policy released by SR 97-20 required District Offices to close or deny NHEP financial assistance cases in which the only dependent child was sanctioned for failure to comply with NHEP work requirements. However, because NHEP sanctions are financial and individuals sanctioned for noncompliance with NHEP are no longer removed from the case, cases must not be closed or denied solely due to the presence of an NHEP sanction.

 By the same reasoning -- because all sanctions for noncooperation with TANF-related requirements, including child support and NHEP work requirements, involve financial assistance reductions rather than disqualification -- it is no longer required that noncompliant nonparents/caretaker relatives be placed in separate MA groups.

Similarly, In FAM Section 315.01, Definition of Voluntary Quit, the Exception was removed from below the general policy statement that voluntary quit provisions apply to each individual in a case who voluntarily quits a job. The Exception noted that if that individual is the only child in the case, the entire case becomes ineligible. Since NHEP cases do not automatically close because sanctioned individuals are no longer removed from the case, this Exception no longer applies.

In FSM Section 133.01, Very Stable Households, the exception related to certification periods for siblings or parents and children who live together but are certified as separate households was removed. The 1996 Leland Act deleted the mandate on certification periods for siblings.

In AAM Part 313, Legal Liabilities of Counties, policy on legal liability has been revised to specify that individuals living in retirement communities are the liability of the county in which they resided prior to their move. With this change, communities hosting retirement facilities are not liable for any future care costs for the disproportionate number of retirees living in their towns.

Policy Clarifications

In FAM Section 808.35, Sanctions for Voluntary Quit..., under Progressive Sanctions, text was rewritten to reflect what actually happens when an individual is being sanctioned. Instead of "remove the needs of the non-compliant individual...", policy now says "decrease the payment standard by the monetary value of the needs of the non-compliant individual..."

Also, policy related to determining the end of a sanction period now states that the date compliance is verified is considered to be the actual date of compliance.

Other changes made to this section included adding "OJT" to the activities an individual can participate in for 20 hours a week to end a sanction. This is not a change, since OJT is considered "paid employment," but was added to the text to clarify the meaning of the term "paid employment."

In FAM Section 901.01, Filing an Application, mention of Form AW9 and Form 251 was deleted and moved to Part 943, Payment for Non-Contract Provider Services, because these forms are not required for eligibility, only for payment.

Technical Changes/Corrections

In FAM 203, TANF, an "Exception" was added to TANF categorical requirements, citing potential eligibility for Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) and Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) for refugees who do not meet the categorical requirements for TANF. This includes a link to new FAM Part 247, Refugee Assistance, which references all RCA/RMA related SR’s retained in the FAM. This change was made in anticipation of a future SR incorporating RCA and RMA policy into the FAM.

In Parts 409 of the FAM and FSM, Common Types of Resources, burial fund policy was clarified so that policy clearly states that only burial funds accessible to the household are considered. Following "equity", "(cash surrender)" was added to further define "equity" because it is a more familiar term and will correspond with requirements in New HEIGHTS.

In FSM Section 603.09, Other Allowable Deductions, allowable deductions for medical expenses include the costs of maintaining an attendant, homemaker, home health aide, housekeeper or child care service, and allow an amount equal to the one-person coupon allotment in the cost if the household provides the majority of the attendant’s meals. This policy has been in effect but inadvertently omitted from food stamp policy. This has now been added to the lists of allowable deductions for medical expenses.

In FSM Part 619, an Exception stating, "Do not consider the differences which could result from current information for a roll back period as an underpayment or underissuance" only applies to TANF policy and has been removed from the FSM. Part 619 now includes specific instructions requiring use of Variable Basis of Issuance methodology to issue supplemental benefits when circumstances have changed.

In AAM Part 203, Categorical Requirements, an Exception to categorical requirements for OAA, APTD, or ANB was added citing potential eligibility for Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) and Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) for refugees who did not meet the categorical requirements for adult assistance. This revision includes a "See also" reference to new FAM Part 247.

In AAM Part 209, Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled, the text has been changed to reflect that the minimum anticipated duration of disability for APTD applicants is 48 months. Previously this section incorrectly stated the requirement for eligibility to be 12 months. When RSA 167.6(VI) was amended in 1995, this section was not revised accordingly. It is being corrected now.

In FAM Section 808.05, Temporary Exemptions from NHEP Participation, the text in parenthesis under the first bullet was correctly sequenced so that the cost of doing business is subtracted from gross countable income and not in the reverse order.

IMPLEMENTATION

As of 4/1/98, discontinue reliance on the former printed versions of FAM, AAM, and FSCEM for official policy. These manuals are now obsolete.

All policy revisions released by this SR/PD are effective April 1, 1998.

Note: the FAM, FSM, and AAM versions released by this SR include policy released by SR 98-06, Release of Increased Limits for QMB, SLMB, 12 Month EMA, and PLP/PLC..., and SR 98-15 Implementation of a Pilot Program Offering the Lifeskills Impacting Families Today (LIFT) Program for Exempt NHEP/FAP Recipients..., as well as policy released by this SR/PD.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

Due to the procedural nature of this SR/PD, no client notification is necessary.

TRAINING

Pilot training on accessing and navigating the OM was undertaken at the Concord District Office in February, 1998. Subsequent training was provided to District Office Supervisors, and all District Office staff were given access to a "pre-release" test version of OM in March, 1998. Further training will be provided to individual staff on an as needed basis. Written instructional material on how to access OM will be released to DHHS staff under separate cover.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR/PD will be distributed electronically according to the SR/PD distribution lists for the FAM, AAM, FSM, and FSCEM. This SR/PD, and On-line Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and available for public access on the Internet at http://www.state.nh.us/dhhs, effective April 1, 1998.

This SR/PD will be distributed in printed form according to the hard copy narrative distribution list for the FAM, AAM, FSM, and FSCEM. Printed manuals will be distributed to all hard copy holders of the FAM, AAM, FSM, and FSCEM under separate cover.

DISPOSITION

This SR/PD may be destroyed after its contents have been noted and, if appropriate, its posting instructions carried out.

DFA/DCYF/PJD:s