CC18 Contract NON-REIMBURSABLE PAYMENTS TRAINING

CC18 Contract— NON-REIMBURSABLE PAYMENTS TRAINING 1

CC18 Contract Final Report— iLinc Training and Converting Non-Reimbursable Payments

Lucas A. Pint

Buffalo State College Research Foundation

Gail M. Daniels, Sharon Calabrese, Dr. Richard Herdlein, and Dr. Bonita R. Durand

Thursday, June 24, 2010

CC18 Contract— NON-REIMBURSABLE PAYMENTS TRAINING 2

CC18 Contract Final Report— iLinc Training and Converting Non-Reimbursable Payments

The Center for Development of Human Services (CDHS) and Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) are interested in measuring the effectiveness of their iLinc Converting NR Payments to Cash online training module.

Background

The iLinc Converting NR Payments to Cash virtual training module focuses on making accurate entries in the systems associated with the provisions of child welfare services. These systems include the Child Care Review Services (CCRS), CONNECTIONS (CONX), the Welfare Management System (WMS) and the Benefit Issuance Control System (BICS). The class includes a walk-through of the claiming process, a discussion on non-reimbursable payments and adjusting claims data in BICS by correcting erred cases found on the Non- reimbursable Reports. The Converting NR Payments to Cash virtual training module was created for accounting, data entry, caseworkers and/or supervisors responsible for reviewing the Non- reimbursable Payments Report and/or monitoring Title IVE eligible cases. Participants who complete this training are expected to have a basic understanding of WMS, CCRS and BICS. By utilizing the iLinc format, trainees are able to work with an actual Non-reimbursable Report, spot potential errors, and work through the error correction process.

Procedure and Progress

 February 23, 2010 completed the iLinc Converting NR Payments to Cash online training module conducted by Nydia Serrano, Senior Trainer, for the OCFS Bureau of Training.

 March 19, 2010 conference call with Maria Andriano, Maureen Godwin, Judith Tomisman, Nancy Pare, Sharon Calabrese, and myself to discuss my iLinc Converting NR Payments to Cash experience, ask questions, familiarize myself with the iLinc Converting NR Payments to Cash Training Guide and terminology as well as introducing the CC18 Faculty Match Project.

 March 22, 2010 Judith Tomisman contacted Dan McCarthy, OCFS-IT-Customer Support Specialist via email to introduce him to the CC18 Faculty Match Project and ask if he would assist me with questions and concerns I may have regarding the Non-Reimbursable report.

 Received the Converting Non-Reimbursable Payments to Cash iLinc Trainee Guide used by participants during their online training, copies of actual CCRS screens as well as NR Report examples used during training.

 March 25, 2010 received Dan McCarthy’s contact information.

 Placed phone call to Dan McCarthy; was unable to reach him and left voice mail. CC18 Contract— NON-REIMBURSABLE PAYMENTS TRAINING 3

 March 29, 2010 – April 4, 2010 Spring recess.

 April 5, 2010 – May 3, 2010 Reviewed pages 1-65 of the iLinc Training Guide and other training resources; communicated via email and telephone with Sharon Calabrese, Maria Andriano, Judith Tomisman regarding project planning, and progress as well as status of survey questions.

 May 4, 2010 Second email sent to Dan McCarthy detailing the CC18 Faculty Match Project and asking him if he could assist me in developing a basic understanding of the Child Care Review Services (CCRS), the Welfare Management System (WMS), and the Benefits Issuance Control System (BICS).

 Successfully contacted Dan McCarthy and completed a 45 minute phone conference; discussed possible opportunity to train with Dan in the Broome County Department of Social Services (BCDSS).

 May 6, 2010 Discussion with Judith Tomisman via telephone regarding the status of interview-survey questions. Judy expected to email me the interview-survey questions prior to leaving work on Thursday May 06, 2010.

 Interview-survey questions received via email on Monday, May 17, 2010 from Maria Andriano.

 Meeting with Sharon Calabrese to discuss extending the project end date.

 May 7, 2010 Requested CC18 Contract Extension until May 31, 2010 per Sharon Calabrese.

 This extension affords additional time to begin contacting OCFS employees who have completed the Non-Reimbursement training seminar.

 May 11, 2010 8hr informal training session with Dan McCarthy at the BCDSS; Reviewed, investigated, and reconciled nine BCDSS case files; Completed a step-by-step investigation of the BCDSS Non-Reimbursable Report and successfully identified errors and made necessary corrections; Issues discussed during this training session included terms, definitions, and processes related to the WMS, BICS, and CCRS (input and output software programs), as well as addressing the cause and effect relationship between these information systems. Additional subject matter consisted of understanding the CCRS Coding Worksheet, the Family Court Hearing Report, and legal codes and modifiers required to input and correct information in addition to understanding the basics of the Family Court Process.

 Signed and submitted an OCFS Non Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreement.

 May 12, 2010 Email from Sharon Calabrese inquiring about the status of Judith Tomisman’s interview-survey questions. CC18 Contract— NON-REIMBURSABLE PAYMENTS TRAINING 4

 May 17, 2010 Received via email a list of Non-Reimbursable Report Converting Non- Reimbursable Payments to Cash iLinc Trainee Participants from Sharon Calabrese.

 Meeting scheduled with Sharon Calabrese.

 May 19, 2010 Revised interview-survey question seven to reflect Judith Tomisman’s changes per email received.

 May 21, 2010 Teleconference with OCFS project members to address and discuss concerns regarding the interview-survey questions.

 Identified three New York Counties (Nassau, Rensselaer, and Schenectady) and Staff Development Coordinators (Susan Iona, Denise Thorsen, Robin Chaisson) as contacts to test and conduct a pilot study of drafted interview-survey questions.

 Judith Tomisman volunteered to draft a letter to Staff Development Coordinators in the three identified NY counties explaining the CC18 Faculty Match Project, ask for their support, and invite these OCFS employees to review our drafted interview- survey questions and respond with their ideas, thoughts, and suggestions.

 Interview-survey questions uploaded to Survey Monkey and formatted for distribution to Dan McCarthy, Jill Tobin, Sharon Calabrese, Judith Tomisman, and Maria Andriano to test the instruments ease of use. Participants’ responses due Wednesday, May 26, 2010.

 May 24, 2010 Email drafted and forwarded to Dan McCarthy, Jill Tobin, Sharon Calabrese, Judith Tomisman, and Maria Andriano reminding project members that Survey Monkey electronic invitation’s were sent on 5/21/10 and interview-survey responses are due by Wednesday, May 26, 2010.

 May 25, 2010 Received Survey Monkey responses and analyzed results to identify themes and similarities among questions.

 Meeting scheduled with Sharon Calabrese for 2pm.

 During the progress of this meeting, I suggested that Survey Monkey be utilized to deliver questions to participants and to further increase the quality of this survey, all project members agreed to involve the Center for Development of Human Services’ Evaluation Unit.

 May 26, 2010 Meeting at 2pm with Sharon Calabrese and other project members to discuss results of Survey Monkey responses.

 Received Staff Development Coordinator letter drafted by Judith Tomisman from Sharon Calabrese. CC18 Contract— NON-REIMBURSABLE PAYMENTS TRAINING 5

 May 27, 2010 Approval request submitted to purchase subscription of Survey Monkey because Survey Monkey limits their free subscription to ten questions.

 Message left for Dr. Dick McCowan regarding the possibility of using the CDHS Evaluation Unit for the distribution of survey questions in fall 2010 rather than using Survey Monkey.

 June 1, 2010 Email from Maria Andriano sent to Staff Development Coordinators.

 June 3, 2010 Received email from Judith Tomisman requesting that Robin, Susan, and Denise be contacted via telephone rather than scheduling a meeting with Dr. Dick McCowan and/or wait for Survey Monkey purchase order approval.

 Email drafted and distributed to Denise, Robin, and Susan to check their schedule of availability and schedule times accordingly.  Wednesday June 9, 2010 Denise Thorsen of Nassau County was contacted via telephone and she indicated that the acronym "NR" (Non-Reimbursable) should be spelled out. Denise has also suggested that question seven be rephrase/modify because some participants many not have access to this information. For example, Nassau County has a Review and Support Department which deals with the NR Report.  Thursday June 10, 2010 Susan Iona of Schenectady County and Robin Chaisson of Rensselaer County were contacted via telephone. Susan suggested that when the final survey is made available to participants that the time frame to complete their responses should be no longer than a week. For example, she indicated the survey could be sent out on a Monday and participants should reply by Friday. Susan not only agrees with Denise's opinion regarding question seven, but question ten should be rephrased/modified too. Susan believes question seven and ten are fine as currently written, however she feels accessibility to exact NR dollar amounts may be an issue. To solve this dilemma, she proposes we add the following statement/question to seven and #ten: "Is the actual dollar amount available to you?” [Y or N] Robin has identified the same issues as Denise and Susan with regard to the abbreviation of NR as well as modifications made to questions ten and seven.