News

Benefind Update

Publication21

 

 

 

Dear Child Care Provider,

Thank you to all who completed the survey regarding your experience with the CCAP transition to Benefind earlier this year. Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA) received 157 responses, which were aggregated and shared with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Division of Child Care (keeping specific providers anonymous). Your input was very helpful and used to identify problems and develop a list of suggestions for how to address them.

4-C, KYA, and KY’s Voice for Early Childhood representative, Children, Inc., met with representatives from the Cabinet to seek resolutions for the concerns you helped identify. They were open to feedback and shared that they are aware of the problems. They have heard from providers and know how frustrated they are. The Division of Child Care (DCC) has already implemented some changes and has requested changes that require computer programming updates from the company that built and maintains Benefind. They are willing to listen to what providers say and work with them to resolve the issues.

Based on our discussion with DCC, please note the following:

  • Providers can be compensated for care that was provided because of late notices of terminations or other reasons related to the transition to Benefind.
  • There are specialized staff who can talk to providers about issues such as not receiving payment for care provided, verifying a child has an active enrollment, and co-pay information. To speak with these specialists, providers should call the Division of Child Care at 844-209-2657. Please note that these workers have been advised as to what information can be shared with providers. DCC acknowledges that providers may not have been able to receive this information when they used this number previously.
  • When you call, make sure you have the needed information at hand including: parent’s name, child’s name(s), dates of service, the reason for reimbursement owed (eg. termination notice was received late; signed certificate was sent in for this child; CPS said that authorization was received for this child; etc.) and any documents that can help support each case.

The Division of Child Care is working to update the current portal used to submit reimbursement claims to allow providers to download certificates. This is one of the fixes that requires computer programming updates to the system, but once in place, it will shorten the amount of time it takes to process new enrollments. This should be launched sometime this spring.

Thank you again to those who completed the survey for taking the time to advocate for yourself and your families. Kentucky’s Voice for Early Childhood is an independent advocacy group. 4-C, along with our KY’s Voice partners, work to improve the child care system for children, parents and providers by ensuring their voices are heard. If you continue to face issues, we encourage you to call the Division of Child Care at 844-209-2657.  We plan to follow up with you and other providers in the coming weeks to learn whether issues have been resolved.