Policy  Directive                                                    Issuance Number: MS 02-01

Medical Services Policy Manual                       Issuance Date: March 12, 2002

From: Joni Jones, Director                               Expiration Date: Until Superseded

Subj: Child Support Referrals for Voluntary Cooperation

Due to recent federal interpretations of laws governing Medicaid and Child Support, parents or caretakers of Medicaid child-only cases no longer have to cooperate with the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). In households where only children are receiving Medicaid or ARKids First, and the parent or caretaker is not on Medicaid or is in an exempt category (i.e. Pregnant Women or Family Planning), cooperation with OCSE is strictly voluntary. If the parent or caretaker chooses services through OCSE, those services will be provided free of charge.

Before voluntarily choosing services through OCSE, it is important that the parent or caretaker understands what cooperation means. He or she will be required to provide information to OCSE; child support payments must go through the Arkansas Child Support Clearinghouse, even if the child support case is later closed; and OCSE may take legal actions against the non-custodial parent. PUB-394 has been revised to explain this information (see attached). It is important that the parent or caretaker read PUB-394 before making a decision of whether to choose services or not. For mail-in ARKids applications, the caseworker will mail PUB-394 to the parent or caretaker after the ARKids case is certified. No referral will be made to OCSE until the parent or caretaker requests services or OCSE requests a referral because services are already being provided. PUB-394 has a section that the client can complete and return to the county office requesting the referral.

Two new codes (V & M) have been added to the Good Cause (GD CSE) field on WAFM and WASM to be used on Medicaid child only cases. Allowable codes for Medicaid child-only cases are:

 

Code	Name	Use
V	Voluntary	When caretaker voluntarily chooses OCSE services and is not required to cooperate. A record for the absent parent is not required on WAPU. Does require a deprivation code and absent parent # on WAFM. If a record is present, it will send to OCSE.
M	Mandatory	When caretaker is receiving Medicaid in another category that is non-exempt from child support cooperation. It does require absent parent data to be submitted on WAPU.
Y	Yes	When cooperation is mandatory and good cause has been established. No referral made.

No entry is required if a referral is not being made in child-only categories (e.g., ARKids A & B, U-18, Newborns).

When an "M" is sent to OCSE, OCSE will establish a case and contact the client as normally done in the past.

When a "V" is sent to OCSE, OCSE will establish a skeletal case and send a letter with questionnaire to the client. The questionnaire will go into more detail than PUB-394 in explaining the cooperation requirements. A voluntary client may choose at that time to not pursue OCSE services or may choose to have the OCSE case closed at anytime afterwards.

This change does not affect child support referral procedures for handling child-only court-ordered children. These categories will continue to be processed as usual as cooperation is mandatory if applicable. It also does not affect TEA cash assistance referrals.

Inquiries to: Jack Tiner, 501-682-8259

Diana Teal, 501-682-1562

                    Carmen Brown, 501-682-8258

                    Cindy Gray, 501-682-8254