Providers: Frequently Asked About Topics


Since the conversion to the new swipe card system Oct. 30, HCJFS has received inquires about some of the following topics. Below are more detailed explanations. To learn more about the conversion to the new Ohio ECC swipe card system, check this page regularly for the latest updates. Also, be sure to review the ODJFS Provider Guidance Letters.

HCJFS Child Care Services has also developed a reminder page for parents and caregivers that providers can use. Click here to review the factsheet.

Frequently Asked About Topics:

- Child Authorizations and Terminations
- Categories of Care
- Payment Date Explanation
- Maximum Reimbursement Rates
- Co-Payments
- Outstanding Vouchers/Voucher Payment
- Manual Claims Process
- Payment Adjustment Process
- Recording Overnight Care on Saturday
- Absent Days
- How to Record Absent Days
- Recording When a Child Is Transported To and From School
- Additional Hours and Holidays
 

Child Authorizations (auths) and Terminations

Providers and/or caretakers MUST report new authorizations and/or terminations at: http://www.hcjfs.org/ChildCareConnections.htm. Each time a caretaker is authorized to take a child to a new or additional child care provider it will be considered a "Child Care Connection."

Newly certified or licensed providers who have not reported a "Child Care Connection" will not be scheduled for a point of service device installation.

Newly eligible caretakers will also not receive an Ohio ECC (swipe) card until a "Child Care Connection" has been reported for a child in their care.  The Ohio ECC card will be mailed to the caretaker seven to 10 business days after Hamilton County Job and Family Services approves the connection. If a caretaker's case closes and they later reapply, their previous Ohio ECC card will not work. A new card will be sent to the caretaker for the new case after a new connection is authorized.

The provider web contains all authorizations for children connected to each provider. Children no longer in care will continue to appear on the provider web for a yet undetermined amount of time. Providers must only report terminations for children with active, future end-dated authorizations.   Children that are connected to the provider without daily transactions (in and out) are not considered in group size or certification limits.  Although they remain on the provider's web screen, they will not prevent a provider from offering care to other new children. 

Please Note: Providers and/or caretakers must report connections no later than the first day of care. Effective Mar. 1, 2012, HCJFS will no longer back-date authorization for care. If HCJFS is not informed of the child care connection prior to the first day of care, the authorization will begin on the day the child care connection was reported.

Caretakers switching providers may only change to the new provider at the beginning of the service week (Sunday). All changes in providers will begin on the Sunday beginning the new service week.

Categories of Care

Caretakers are now approved for categories of care.

Hourly - 0 to 7 hours
Part-time - 7 to 24.9 hours
Full-time - 25 to 60 hours
Full-time plus - more than 60 hours

The days and hours used by the parent for care is between the provider and caretaker. Caretakers do not have to use hours specifically tied to their work, school or training activity. They may not use more hours than the category allows, but the specific days and times are now up to the caretaker and provider. All providers are still held to their certification or licensing limitations (staffing ratios, etc.).

Payment Date Explanation

Providers will be paid weekly for services delivered and recorded on the swipe card three weeks prior. This three week window allows providers time to review the ECC transactions to ensure accuracy for proper payment. Providers will have to finalize payment for the service three weeks prior on Saturday and will be picked up by ODJFS on Monday. View the 2012 payment schedule here.


It is critical that provider review card transactions for every child in the provider web (https://www.eccproviderweb.ohio.gov/eccpw/) to ensure payment accuracy.

Please direct additional questions or concerns to your Home Provider Specialist or designated HCJFS contact.

Maximum reimbursement rates

The maximum ODJFS reimbursement rates to providers has not changed since 7/31/11. Find out the rate information here.

The payment for "settled" service weeks is currently visible in the provider portal.  This payment is based on the provider's reported rates compared to the ODJFS maximum reimbursement rates and a child's time and attendance data from the Ohio ECC card.  Payment is based on child care usage, not authorization category.

 

Co-Payments

The co-payment assigned to each child is a weekly amount.  Providers may collect the weekly fee weekly or monthly, but the amount displayed in the provider web is a weekly amount.


Outstanding Vouchers/Voucher Payment

The next upload for HCJFS vouchers will take place on 12/26/11.  If you have additional vouchers to submit for billing for dates of service prior to 10/30/11 (when Ohio ECC began), please submit as soon as possible. HCJFS will continue to process vouchers received that are submitted and will send an upload to ODJFS for payment again 1/23/12. The absolute final deadline for ALL outstanding vouchers is 1/3/12.

Manual Claims Process

 

The JFS 01261 "Publicly Funded Child Care Manual Claim for Attendance"  is used by the provider in order to invoice for authorized services provided when the caretaker did not have the ability to utilize the point of service (POS) device and the swipe card.  

Instructions for Providers:

  1. Complete the JFS 01261 form completely.

  2. Mail it to Hamilton County Job and Family Services, Accounts Payable at 222 East Central Parkway or bring it to the third floor fiscal mail drop at 222 East Central Parkway. Please do NOT fax the form. HCJFS will review the form and make a determination for payment.

  3. If the request is accepted, the payment will be processed the Sunday after HCJFS keys the amount due to the provider into the system.   The provider can view this information on the PWeb. 

  4. If the payment is denied, then HCJFS will return the JFS 01261 form to the provider.

Adjustments Process

A Request for Payment Adjustment (JFS 1292) needs to be submitted if a payment for services has been calculated by the Ohio Electronic Child Care (ECC) system for the provider, but the payment amount for a specific child is incorrect. Currently, detailed payment information is available on the PWeb.

Instructions for Providers:

  1. Complete the JFS 1292 Publicly Funded Child Care Request for Ohio ECC Payment Adjustment form completely.

  2. Mail it to Hamilton County Job and Family Services, Accounts Payable at 222 East Central Parkway or bring it to the third floor fiscal mail drop at 222 East Central Parkway. Please do NOT fax the form. HCJFS will review the form and make a determination for payment.

  3. If all information is correct and the request is approved, the payment will be processed

  4. The provider can view the adjustment information on the PWeb once it has been entered for payment

  5. If the payment is denied, Hamilton County Job and Family Services will return the JFS 1292 form to the provider.

Please Note: To date, ODJFS has received several payment adjustment requests for absent days. While there may be situations in which an absent day could be claimed using the manual claim form, absent days cannot be claimed on the payment adjustment form. If attendance was swiped for a week, that means the authorization was active and absent days could have been claimed during the back swipe period using the provider website (PWeb). This system requirement for reporting absent days using the PWeb will allow for the timely and accurate reporting of absent days during the week they are claimed. ODJFS will not approve an adjustment request for an absent day when the PWeb process should have been used.

Saturday Overnight/Payment Week Ending:

The payment week begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday. When a child is staying in care across the end of a payment week, overnight from Saturday to a Sunday (the last day of a payment week to the first day of the next payment week), the caretaker MUST do a back swipe OUT for 11:59 p.m. on Saturday and a back swipe IN for 12 a.m., midnight, on the Sunday before swiping out at the end of care on Sunday.

Any time in care up to Saturday at 11:59 p.m. will be calculated with the previous week of care. Care provided from 12 a.m., midnight, will be calculated with the current week.

Absent Days:

A day is recognized as the 24-hour period spanning from 12 a.m. through 11:59 p.m. If a child is authorized an in attendance at any time during the period of 12 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. then an absent day cannot be recorded for that day.

The provider may bill for an absent day when the child was authorized and scheduled to be in attendance but was not in attendance any time from 12 a.m. through 11:59 p.m., as long as the child has a remaining absent day within the six month period.

A provider may be paid for absent days for which a child is eligible during each six-month period that care is provided.

Providers must record absent days using the PWeb or the Ohio ECC Provider Helpline at 1-888-516-4776. The provider shall report any absent days regardless of the effect on payment. The value of an absent day is based on authorization:

  1. For a full-time or full-time plus authorization, the value of an absent day is eight hours

  2. For a part-time authorization, the value of an absent day is five hours

  3. For an hourly authorization, the value of an absent day is five hours

How to Record an Absent Day in PWeb:

Absent days can be recorded by the child care provider on the provider website (PWeb). To report an absent day on PWeb, click the "Record Absence" button on the child's authorization under the "Authorization - Profile" screen. Once you click the "Record Absence" button it will open the "Authorization - Absence" screen.

 

The top portion of the screen will continue to display the child’s information and the bottom will show absence information.  On this screen you have two choices. 

  • Enter a new absent day

  • Void any absent days that are unsettled (recorded absences not yet processed)

Absent days must be entered within the back swipe period (current week plus the 2 previous weeks).  Once that status changes to settled, you can no longer void the absence and any changes would have to be made through a manual process. 

 

Please Note: To date, ODJFS has received several payment adjustment requests for absent days. While there may be situations in which an absent day could be claimed using the manual claim form, absent days cannot be claimed on the payment adjustment form. If attendance was swiped for a week, that means the authorization was active and absent days could have been claimed during the back swipe period using the provider website (PWeb). This system requirement for reporting absent days using the PWeb will allow for the timely and accurate reporting of absent days during the week they are claimed. ODJFS will not approve an adjustment request for an absent day when the PWeb process should have been used.

Completing a Previous Check In/Previous Check Out During the Back Swipe Period when the Child is Transported by the Provider/School Bus:

A previous check in/out will be required when:

  • A school age child attends child care before and/or after school and is transported to and/or from school by the provider

  • A child is transported to/from the program by the provider

  • The caretaker/parent or designee does not swipe their card when a child enters or exits child care

For example:

  • Child is transported to the child care program (card unavailable) and arrives at the child care program at 7:30 am.

  • Child goes to school on school bus (card unavailable), leaving the child care program at 10:00 am.

  • Child returns to the child care program by bus (card unavailable) and arrives back at 2:00 pm.

  • Caretaker or designee picks the child up from the child care program (swipe card is available) at 6:00 pm.

This scenario requires the caretaker to perform 4 transactions when the child is picked up by the caretaker or designee at 6:00 pm.

  1. Transaction #1 Previous Check In for the 7:30 am arrival.

  2. Transaction #2 Previous Check Out for the 10:00 am departure.

  3. Transaction #3 Previous Check In for the 2:00 pm arrival.

  4. Transaction #4 Current Check Out at 6:00 pm completing the day.

 

Each back swipe transaction takes approximately 15-20 seconds for a total of 1-2 minutes to record all activity for that day.

 

The department will continue to evaluate potential changes for school age processes through statewide go-live in January 2012.

 

If you have questions, please feel free to call the CCIDS Help Desk/Business Unit at 1-877-302-2347, option 1 or e-mail at CCIDS_Business_Unit@jfs.ohio.gov .
 

Additional Hours and Holidays

The county is no longer able to add "additional hours" for changing needs around school holidays.  A child must be authorized for the care needed.  In some cases no change is required as the "extra" hours being used for a school holiday still fall within the authorization category and will be covered.  However, if a child is changing providers or changing the category of authorization the parent or provider must report the need for an authorization change.  See below.


 


 

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