Benefit Management HuBERT Training Module 1
Benefits & Issuance – Module 1
Slide Title
Slide Text
Introduction
This HuBERT on-demand training module is provided by the MN Department
of Health WIC Program.
It provides a first look at Benefit Issuance.
Overview
In this module, we will take a look at the benefits provided to participants for
redemption at stores, define concepts to assist with understanding benefit
issuance and its processes, explain the issuance cycle and the proration of
food packages, and review how to manipulate issuance frequency.
Benefit Overview
<Benefits>
Benefits are the method by which we provide foods to eligible participants.
They are used by participants at WIC-approved stores to buy WIC-allowed
foods.
We may also hear them called checks, vouchers or food instruments but for
this training, and other references to HuBERT, they will be called benefits.
<B1>
Benefit Issuance can be initiated from the Participant Folder or as the last
step in the Certification Guided Script (or CGS).
Leo is here for a nutrition education contact, not a certification, so we will
initiate benefit issuance from the participant folder.
The Issue Benefits icon looks like a hand holding a check.
Go ahead and click on it.
<BI2>
This is the benefit issuance screen. We can see that it has a lot of information
on it.
For now though, let’s just get a sense of what a benefit looks like.
This is an example of a benefit a participant would receive.
Benefits are issued to individual participants as we can see by the State WIC
ID and participant name printed at the top.
The agency and clinic that issued the benefits are also printed on it.
They are valid for a specific time period, which is indicated by the First Day to
Use and the Last Day to Use.
Each benefit’s unique serial number prints below the Last Day to Use.
Any foods that can be purchased with this particular benefit are listed here.
This is typically just a portion of the total food prescription since participants
usually receive multiples benefits in order to divvy up the larger items, such as
milk and juice.
Lastly, at the bottom of every benefit is the MICR line, which is used for bank
processing.
Now that we have a better sense of the benefit, let’s return to the Issue
Benefits screen.
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First, notice that although we opened the Issue Benefits screen from Leo’s
folder, we are able to issue benefits for the entire household.
We can also issue benefits to individual members of the household since
each member is listed individually.
Remember the First Day to Use and Last Day to Use that were printed on the
benefit?
Those dates are the participant’s Issuance Cycle.
Before we go any further, we need to define and discuss some basic benefit
issuance concepts.
Concepts & Definitions
IssuanceCycle
The Issuance Cycle refers to the dates printed on the benefits.
It is established for a household when the first household member is initially
certified; each subsequent member is then synced to the household’s
existing issuance cycle when they are certified.
The household’s issuance cycle can be manually adjusted using the cycleadjust functionality, which we will review later.
An issuance cycle is usually the same dates every month for both the First
and Last Dates to Use.
<IssCycleEx>
For example, the Lion family’s issuance cycle is the 25th to the 24th.
The March benefits in set 1 start on March 25th and end on April 24th;
The April benefits in set 2 start on April 25th and end on May 24th;
And the May benefits in set 3 start on May 25th and end on June 24th.
The Printed First Date to Use, or PFDTU, is the same as the First Date to Use that
is printed on the benefit.
This date is the first day the benefit can be used, or redeemed, by
participants at a store.
PFDTU
For new participants, the Printed First Date to Use is established the first time
benefits are issued in HuBERT, which is most often the date of their
certification.
For existing participants that already have an issuance cycle, the date the
next set should begin, or the Expected Printed First Date to Use, is simply
calculated by adding one to the month of the PFDTU of the last set of
benefits issued.
<PFDTUExample>
For example, as we can see in the Household Member Information section of
the Issue Benefits screen, the PFDTU of the last set issued for the Lion family
was 2/25/2014.
Using this date, the Expected PFDTU is simply calculated by adding a one to
the month, which results in their next set starting on 3/25/2014.
PFDTU1
Since the Printed First Date to Use is based on the last set's dates, it is
important to recognize that once the cycle has been established, the PFDTU
of the first set of benefits is often NOT the same date the benefits are printed.
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This affects our participants because they may not be able to use their
benefits on the same day they are printed or because they may have fewer
days to use the benefits.
So how does this happen? Well, we can issue benefits “early” or “late”
relative to a participant’s issuance cycle.
<Early>
For now, we are going to define early and late issuance pretty simply.
First, we should keep in mind that these terms are only applicable to the first
set of benefits issued.
Since we have multi-month issuance, the second and third sets of benefits
are by definition issued early or before their expected PFDTU.
Early issuance is printing benefits BEFORE a participant's expected Printed
First Date to Use when they still have benefits that haven't yet expired or that
they can still use.
So, for example, since the Lion family’s cycle is the 25th to the 24th and their
last set was issued from February 25th to March 24th, we know their Expected
PFDTU is March 25th.
So early issuance would occur if we were to issue the next set…? (3 second
pause)
BEFORE March 25.
We should note that HuBERT will allow benefits to be printed up to 75 days
before the last set’s LDTU.
At a really high level, this simply provides us with flexibility in issuing future
months of benefits when benefits have already been issued and voided for
those future months.
Late issuance is printing the next set of benefits AFTER the expected Printed
First Date to Use.
So, in this instance, late issuance would occur if benefits were printed…? (3
second pause)
AFTER March 25.
PPTN Month
The PFDTU is also super important because its month and year are used to
determine the Participation Month.
The Participation Month is the month and year that a participant is counted
for the Participation Count.
The Participation Count is the number of participants issued benefits each
month by each agency and is essential for funding.
In order to be able to count a participant for a certain month, they must be
issued benefits with a PFDTU in that month and year.
<PPTNMo_LDTU>
For example, Leo and Momma are being issued benefits with a PFDTU of
3/25/14, 4/25/14 and 5/25/14.
Using the month and year of each set of benefits, they would be counted in
the March 2014, April 2014, and May 2014 participation counts for the
agency that issued the benefits.
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In order to ensure an accurate count, it is vital that when benefits are issued
consecutively, the system issues benefits with a Printed First Date to Use in
each month.
The second date in the issuance cycle is called the Last Date to Use, or the
LDTU.
It is the date printed on each benefit that indicates the last day it can be
used, or redeemed, by participants at a store.
Generally we can assume that the Last Date to Use will be the day before
the next expected Printed First Date to Use.
FDTU
There are two more definitions we should be familiar with.
HuBERT records another First Date to Use, or FDTU when benefits are issued.
It is the same as the Printed First Date to Use except when benefits are issued
late, which remember, only applies to the first set of benefits issued.
When the first set is issued after the expected PFDTU, the FDTU is recorded as
the date the benefits were printed or the issued date.
<Issueddate>
Looking once more at the Lion family, our expected PFDTU for the first set is
3/25/14.
If we issue on or before 3/25/14, the FDTU is…? (3 second pause)
3/25/14
If we issue after 3/25/14, let’s say on April 3rd, then our FDTU is…? (3 second
pause)
4/3/14
And what would the FDTU be for the second or third sets, regardless of
whether issued early or late? (3 second pause)
Yep! 4/25/14 and 5/25/14.
The last concept we need to define is the Issued Date.
This is simply the date the benefits were actually printed.
Table
Let’s use this table to review what we’ve just talked about and use some
different dates for a little variety.
We now know the issuance cycle is not affected by the date the benefits
are actually printed.
So, if our issuance cycle is the 9th to the 8th…
The Printed First Date to Use and the Last Date to Use are the same
regardless of whether the benefits were picked up on time, early or late.
The Printed First Date to Use is the same as the First Date to Use, except when
issued late.
When issued late, the FDTU is the same as the Issued Date.
Participants being Certified
All PPTs
Let's talk about participants who are being certified and their issuance
cycles.
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In general, the system will always try to sync a participant’s issuance cycle to
other members of their household who are currently on the WIC program.
Since Federal Regulations require all participants to receive a set of benefits
that begin on the date they are certified, if the participant hasn’t received
benefits for the current month, regardless of whether the participant is new
to the program or not, the system will issue a partial food package called a
syncing set, that begins on the current date and is good until their actual
issuance cycle starts.
New Ppts
For new participants, there isn’t an established issuance cycle, which means
the system is unable to calculate the expected PFDTU.
If our new participant doesn’t have any other household members to sync
their issuance cycle to, there issuance cycle is established the first time
benefits are issued, which is typically the same as the date they are certified.
Existing PPTs
For participants who are already on the WIC Program and are being
certified or recertified, who don’t have other members of the household to
sync to…
The system will try to maintain the established issuance cycle.
However, if there is a gap of more than 36 days between when the
participant’s last certification ended and when their current certification
begins, the system will establish a new issuance cycle that begins on the
date of their certification.
Late Issuance
Late
Let’s talk in a little bit more detail about late issuance.
Remember from earlier that late issuance occurs any time benefits are
printed after the expected Printed First Date to Use for the first set of benefits.
Late benefits can be printed any time during the participant's current
issuance cycle, up to the day before the Last Date to Use.
We can only issue late for the most recent month's set of benefits. In other
words, if it's May, we cannot issue late for March; we can only issue late for
April.
So, let’s take a closer look at late issuance.
<late1>
Ellie is here for a nutrition contact and the date is July 16, 2014. Go ahead
and click the Show Details button.
<show details>
The Show Details panel has some benefit information, including the last sets
issued and the issuance frequency.
If ALL the benefits were voided in an issued set, it would display “Voided”
instead of “Issued”.
Since we now know that we can determine which months Ellie has received
benefits for by looking at the month and year of the PFDTUs of issued sets, we
can see that she has received benefits for March, April and May.
But she has not yet received benefits for June.
We can also see that her cycle is the 28th to the 27th.
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We just learned that we can issue late until the day before the Last Date to
Use for the current issuance cycle, which is June 28th to July 27th for Ellie.
So, since the date is July 16th, we can still issue late for June.
Go ahead and open Ellie’s folder and then the Issue Benefits screen.
<MCA alert>
<no script>
<Issue icon>
<no script>
<late2>
The system makes it easy for us to see that this is late issuance for June by
bolding the first set of benefits.
But not only is it bolded, it also has the PFDTU contained within carrots and
displays the FDTU, which is only different from the PFDTU when issuing late.
The last indication that this is late issuance is the fact that the size of the food
package for the first set of benefits has been decreased, or prorated.
Proration
Proration1
Proration is a decrease in the food package due to a reduced number of
days that the benefits can be used in the store.
The system automatically prorates food items when the number of days
between the First Date to Use and the Last Date to Use is decreased beyond
a certain threshold, which varies based on WIC category.
Proration2
Only the first set of benefits is ever prorated;
and this can occur due to late issuance, syncing sets when syncing to an
established issuance cycle, and manual cycle adjustment of an issuance
cycle, which we will explain later.
In general, we should accept the prorated amount suggested by the
system.
Proration-Women
For women and children, there are minimal changes in the food item
quantities.
Only the quantity of milk is decreased. All other food items remain at their
original amount when the food package is prorated.
For those receiving Food Package 3, the amount of formula will be prorated.
Since proration is based on the amount of time that a participant can use
their benefits at the store, if there are 24 to 31 days between when the
benefits are issued and the Last Date to Use, a full package is suggested.
If there are 16 to 23 days, 3/4 is suggested, 8 to 15, a half package, and if
there are only 1 to 7 days in which the participant could use the benefits,
they receive a quarter package.
Proration-Infants
For infants, all the food items are prorated including formula, infant fruits and
vegetables (except for the cash-value benefit), and infant meats.
Proration starts later for infants and only begins once the benefit period is
shortened by two weeks.
That means that HuBERT will decrease the food package to ¾ when there
are 8-15 days left to use the benefits and then to ½ when there are 1-7 days
left.
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<proration1>
Taking a look at the Bear family, we can see that this is late issuance
because it is bolded, displays the PFDTU in carrots, and has a prorated food
package.
We can see that the benefits are being issued on 7/17/2014 by the FDTU and
that the PFDTU, or first date of their issuance cycle, is 6/23/2014, which means
we are issuing about 24 days late.
Notice that Mama and Teddy are receiving quarter packages while Baby is
still receiving a 1/2 package since, remember, proration doesn’t start until 14
days past the PFDTU for infants.
The Food Prescription tab allows us to view existing food packages and edit
current or future food packages.
Go ahead and click on the Food Prescription tab.
<fptab1>
All of the existing food packages for all existing household members displays
on this tab.
In a few moments, we are going to preview the benefits to see the prorated
food package.
So, let’s take a look at what the full food package would have been for
Baby Bear for the first set.
Since we are issuing benefits with a PFDTU of 6/23/14, the first set of benefits
will print the food prescription with the closest effective date before or on
6/23/14, which in this case is 5/29/14.
Go ahead and double-click on the date.
<fbtab2>
If Baby Bear were to receive a full package today, the benefits would have
9 cans of formula on them.
Instead, he will receive half of that today.
Taking a look at Mama’s food package, it appears that she has Soy
Beverage in her food package.
Since only milk is prorated for women and children, instead of receiving the
13 ½ gallons on her first set of benefits, today she will receive one-quarter of
the milk while the quantity of the rest of the foods will remain the same.
Before we head out of this screen, we should mention the limited food
package editing capabilities it provides.
The Edit Food Prescription button allows us to edit food packages with an
effective date on or after the current date.
It only becomes enabled when a date that meets those criteria is selected.
Notice that even though the date of 5/29/2014 is selected, the button still
isn’t enabled, because it is before the current date of 7/17/14.
However, if we click the 10/20/2014 date to highlight it…please do so…
The Edit Food Prescription button becomes enabled. Go ahead and click
on it.
<fptab4>
Just a couple of small things of which to make note.
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This is the Edit screen, which means we cannot add new food prescriptions
from here.
Also, the Effective Date is locked, or read-only, and cannot be changed.
We can only modify this prescription. That’s it. Click Cancel to exit this
screen.
<fptab5>
Last thing…the Cancel button on this tab exits out of the Issue Benefits
screen.
So, we exit this tab the same way we entered, by clicking the tab at the top.
Only this time, click the Benefits tab.
<proration2>
The Preview Benefits button allows us to view the benefits before we print
them.
Let’s click the Preview Benefits button to see what the prorated food
packages will look like on the benefits.
<preview1>
The Print Preview window always opens this small.
In order to be able to see it clearly we need to use the Zoom function. Click
on the drop-down arrow next to the magnifying glass icon.
<preview2>
We can select a number of different magnifications, however, let’s just select
100%.
<preview3>
<no script>
<preview4>
Now click the maximize button to make it completely viewable.
<preview5>
The print preview window shows us exactly how each benefit will print.
We can see that Baby Bear will only be receiving 5 cans instead of 9 cans for
his prorated first set of benefits, or late issuance, for June.
At first glance, it appears he is only receiving 5 cans for July too. But if we
scroll down…
<preview6>
<no script>
<preview7>
…we can see that the full quantity has just been divvied up onto to different
benefits.
Now let’s take a look at mom’s prorated benefits. Click the up arrow by the
Page field to view page 2.
<preview8>
Since we are already scrolled to the bottom of the page and Baby Bear’s
August benefits are at the top of this page, we can see mom’s first benefit
for June.
She is only receiving ¼ the full amount of milk while the rest of the foods are
still the full quantity.
Go ahead and click on the up arrow to view page 3 so that we can see the
rest of mom’s benefits.
<preview9>
We’ll just quickly scroll to the top of page 3...
<preview10>
<no script>
<preview11>
…and we can see that mom is receiving the full amount of cheese, cereal,
and fruits and vegetables.
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Go ahead and exit by clicking either the Close button or the red X in the top
right corner.
The only other detail we should mention about the Print Preview window is
that the green button icons next to the magnifying glass icon allow us to
view multiple pages at one time.
To close the Print Preview window, we can either click the Close button or
the X in the top right corner. Close the window.
<edit1>
In general, our policy is to accept the suggested proration.
However, there may be instances where this could be considered punitive or
inappropriate due to the circumstances, which is up to each Local Agency
to determine.
Therefore, we are able to over-ride the suggested proration by using the Edit
First Set button.
To enable the button, we have to select the prorated set of benefits.
Click on Baby Bear’s bolded set of benefits to highlight and select it.
<edit2>
Now click the Edit First Set button.
<edit3>
Notice the First Date to Use, not the PFDTU, displays.
The current suggested package size defaults.
But we can select any of the radio buttons if deemed more appropriate.
If we do edit the package size then we will be required to select a Reason
for Editing. Click on the drop-down.
<edit4>
There are two options: CPA Discretion (See Notes) and Late Pickup is Clinic's
Fault.
If we select CPA Discretion, a note should be written to document why the
prorated amount was edited.
In general, we can select this reason if the participant has a valid reason for
having to pick up their benefits late.
We can select Late Pickup is Clinic’s Fault to indicate that we are the reason
why the participant was unable to pick up their benefits on time.
Click on the drop-down again to close it since we aren’t actually going to
make any changes to the proration…
<edit5>
...and click Cancel to exit.
<edit6>
We should note that the edit only applies to the selected member’s food
package. If we were going to edit more than one member’s we would
have to edit each individually.
Proration3
It is very important that we always inform participants if they are receiving
prorated food packages.
It is our responsibility to let them know how and why their food packages
may be different on the first set of benefits issued.
We shouldn’t ever use terms such as “prorated” or “half-package” since
these are vernacular relevant to HuBERT but not to them.
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Proration4
Instead, simply explain which foods are decreased, and by how much, and
that these items are decreased because there are fewer weeks between
this set of benefits and when their next set of benefits begin.
They should know both how and why their food packages may be different
on the first set of benefits issued and it is our responsibility to communicate
this to them.
Household Member Information
<hhmbrinfo>
OK. So, let’s go back to the Benefit Issuance screen and take a quick look at
the Household Member Information.
This section provides the most current, or recent, issuance and certification
information for all members of the household, regardless of their eligibility to
receive benefits.
The Frequency refers to the Issuance Frequency and is the number of months
of benefits that the system should auto-suggest in the Issue Benefits screen.
The default for all participants is Tri-Monthly.
It is possible to change the frequency for the long-term and also to
individually select how many sets of benefits should be printed for each
member so we’ll take a look at that after we review this section.
The Last Set Issued displays the date the last set was printed, or the issued
date.
It will be blank if benefits have never been issued in HuBERT.
Since Allie’s and Tom’s next suggested sets start in July, they must have just
received benefits for one month at their certification, which can happen
when a participant forgets to bring proof of income, address or identity to
their appointment.
We can see that they were just certified on June 6 in the Prior Certification
column, which displays their current or most recent certification start date.
We can also see that it has been awhile since Mama was last on the
program.
The end date for their current, or in Mama’s case, most recent certification is
displayed in the Certification Due column.
The Categorical Ineligibility column displays the date they will be, or were,
no longer eligible for the WIC Program.
The Last Set PFDT we used before when we calculated the expected PFDTU.
It’s the first date printed on the last set of benefits issued.
The Last Set LDTU displays the second date printed on the most recent set of
benefits issued.
This section provides just a bit more information. Go ahead and click to the
right of the scroll bar.
<hhmbrinfo1>
On this end, the participant’s current, or most recent in Mama’s case, WIC
Category displays.
The last column is the Termination Reason.
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This displays why the most recent certification was terminated.
For Mama, we can see both here and on the suggested issuance panel,
that she has been terminated for Categorical Ineligibility.
Issuance Frequency
<frequency>
As we indicated before, it is possible to change the issuance frequency if we
wanted to limit the number of sets the system auto-suggests to, say, just one
month for the foreseeable future.
We can change the long-term issuance frequency in the Certification
Guided Script…
<pause for CGS>
…or the Participant Folder. The functionality is the same so let’s just take a
look at the Participant Folder.
The option to change the frequency is found in the Participant Activities
menu. Click on that menu.
<frequency1>
Do you remember what it was called from our quick glimpse at the CGS
screen?
<short pause to highlight the option>
Yep. Click the Review CPA-determined Follow-up Information option.
<frequency2>
<no script>
<frequency3>
Go ahead and click the drop-down to view our options.
<frequency4>
We can change a participant’s long-term issuance frequency from trimonthly, to bi-monthly or even, monthly if necessary.
Your Local Agency may have circumstances when changing the issuance
frequency is warranted, or necessary, and they’ll have to let you know what
those might be.
<frequency5>
It is also possible to individually select how many sets of benefits should be
printed for each member of a household simply by clicking the checkboxes
next to the suggested sets in the Issue Benefits screen.
The Dog family is tri-monthly but notice that Hoyt only has two months
suggested - July and August.
We can see this is due to Hoyt’s certification ending on August 31.
Although Harry and Ma are auto-suggested the third set for September there
isn’t a checkmark in the checkbox preceding the September set.
This is because HuBERT will always attempt to maintain the same cycle and
issuance months for the household.
Since Hoyt has only two months of benefits, the system auto-selects the same
months for Harry and Ma.
However, we can over-ride the system’s suggestion by simply clicking the
checkbox next to the third set.
Go ahead and click the checkbox next to Ma’s September set.
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<frequency6>
We can also remove all of Ma’s sets by simply clicking the checkmark
preceding her name.
Go ahead and click it.
<frequency7>
So, the checkboxes under each participant’s name allow us to control
which sets are printed...
...while the checkboxes beside each participant’s name allow to us control
whether benefits are printed for them at all.
The checkboxes are interconnected so that if we add a checkmark beside
a set of benefits, HuBERT will automatically insert the checkmarks from any
sets listed above it.
This means we can add them all back by clicking either the checkbox by
Ma’s name or the checkbox by the July set of benefits. Go ahead.
<frequency8>
The system will also always remove any sets below a set in which the
checkmark is removed.
For example, click the checkmark in front of Ma’s August set of benefits.
<frequency9>
Notice that the checkmark for both the August set and the September set
below it were removed.
The checkboxes allow us to control which sets we want to print and whom
we want to print for...
...and the system will ensure that we never print future benefits without
printing the current month’s...
...and won’t print for a participant that doesn’t have any sets of benefits
selected.
Last Issuance
HuBERT will also always auto-suggest the last set of benefits a participant is
eligible to receive for their certification period.
This is the set with a PFDTU in the same month in which the certification ends.
All participants are eligible to receive this last set of benefits, which is why
HuBERT auto-suggests them.
However, participants should typically be recertified during the month in
which their certification ends.
Benefits with a PFDTU in the same month as the cert end date should NOT be
routinely issued when the participant needs to be recertified.
These benefits CAN be issued during instances in which scheduling difficulties
occur.
<frequency10>
We can see from the Categorical Ineligibility column that Hoyt does not turn
5 years old until September 2015.
This means he is due for a recertification in August and we should schedule
an appointment for August instead of issuing benefits for August.
So how do we issue only July benefits for Hoyt? Go ahead.
<frequency11>
<pause for text animation>
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Since we usually try to keep everyone in a household in sync for issuance,
what else do we need to do before we issue?
Yep. We need to remove Harry’s August benefits also. Go ahead and do
so.
<frequency12>
Once we are ready to issue benefits, we can click on the Issue Benefits to
Selected Members button.
When we click this button, benefits will be sent to the printer for those
household members with a checkmark in front of their name, which in this
case are Harry, Hoyt and Ma.
End Slide
We appreciate you taking the time to review this HuBERT on-demand training
module presented by the MN Department of Health WIC Program.
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