Many do not believe it but we have heard that your Connecticut cost report settlement checks will start arriving as early as the end of May and will be completed by the end of June 2013.  We don’t know what the exact amount is going to be yet, however this is revenue that districts have anxiously been waiting for. 

You have all worked hard to keep the SBCH program growing in Connecticut and at times may have felt your efforts were going unnoticed but in fact, in the next month I believe your efforts will finally be acknowledged.  What many of you may be unaware of are the issues that have been critical to this lengthy process and delay of your payments.

In October 2010, the SBCH program in Connecticut went through the first step of changes to come, by switching from bundled rate payments to fee for service. As required this meant that districts would be responsible for submitting data collections that were crucial to an annual cost report submission.

For many of our districts these steps were not clearly understood by staff and in many cases were ignored. The result was failure to submit accurate and timely submissions which impacted all of the districts participating in the program. Miscommunication may be cause to blame but in an effort to resolve these issues DSS has been in constant negotiations with CMS and are putting together a plan to ensure that payments are sent to all qualified districts who have completed all cost reports, desk reviews, and time study validations.

Our biggest question is what our districts can expect to see for their reconciliation. Remember the settlement is based on actual costs incurred by the district and what the district actually received from direct claiming. This along with the Medicaid penetration rate for each district will determine the actual amount of revenue received. Once CMS acknowledges how the State collected the required documentation and followed all specific guidelines we will finally see what everyone has been waiting for….. an actual check!