INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: TOP STORY Getting Your Fair Share
MEDICAID REIMBURSEMENT FOR TRANSPORTING STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS ADDS UP, SO DISTRICTS SHOULDN'T LEAVE MONEY ON THE TABLE
WRITTEN BY ERIC WOOLSON U
sing tracking software and radio-frequency identification (RFID) cards to gather accu- rate, real-time data on students
with special needs and their paraprofes- sionals can effortlessly capture significant Medicaid reimbursement dollars that have been slipping away from districts, said fleet directors familiar with the technology. Data from the Centers for Medicaid and
Medicare Services indicates that the federal expenditure for school-based services in FY-2013 totaled $1.18 billion. Specialized transportation funding made up $94.5 million of that total, including $54.8 million in federal Medicaid dollars, but those funds were divided among only 12 states. David Anderson, director of transpor-
tation at Adams 12 Five Star Schools in Tornton, Colo., and Gene Hammond, transportation director of Falcon (Colo.) School District 49, say districts that aren’t collecting Medicaid reimbursements shouldn’t wait another day to seek federal dollars they should be receiving. “Te first thing I’ve found in our state
and through contacts around the country is that you still have people who are not doing anything with Medicaid. If that’s the case, get with a district that is. Call one of us and at least get started on a paper log system,” Anderson advised. He said there are very good paper-log-
ging systems that can help a transportation director “at least get your foot in the door.” “If you get $50,000 back, you can put that
money toward GPS. Te more you can doc- ument and claim, the more you can receive and Medicaid (dollars) will pay for your system. We have big districts in Colorado that get back $200,000 to $300,000 a year; you can buy a lot of technology with that kind of money,” Anderson added. In 2006, the Adams 12 district became
one of the first in the state to employ Zonar technology because funds were available and Anderson’s boss was tech-driven and savvy. “Te main purchase he funded was to get
us kicked off. When ZPass came in, that’s when we found we could use it for every as-
£ If a school district doesn't tap into Medicaid to offset the costs of transporting students, it can miss out on tens of thousands of extra dollars.
“On the transportation side, we now
generate 40 to 50 percent of the total Medicaid dollars for the district,” explained Hammond, who praises his predecessor for launching the effort to capture that funding. “We have 220 special needs students, and many don’t qualify for special needs reimbursement. Te monies received don’t go to transportation. However, the monies do fully fund three to four full-time health workers for the district. It’s a lot of money and we’re just a small district.”
PAPER DOESN'T CUT IT Anderson, who has been in his current
role eight years after 24 years with the 20 School Transportation News February 2014
pect. It’s paid for itself over and over and over. It’s the ultimate tool,” Anderson stressed. Hammond urged nonparticipating
districts to “really take a look” toward the use of electronic tracking, especially with its impact on Medicaid reimbursement.
Cherry Creek School District in Den- ver, said his district has sought Medicaid reimbursement for years. But things took a quantum leap forward in the past three years by utilizing Zonar in conjunction with an information gathering tool. “ZPass card readers made it very easy.
It’s a swipe card on and off the bus for students, so there are no paper logs,” he said. “Employees scan their cards, too, so we know what para was on the bus and we get reimbursed for that person’s time as they were serving the student’s needs.” Anderson’s drivers hold bus passes for all students to prevent cards from being lost. Drivers scan each student’s card when the children get on and off the bus. Drivers and para-professionals have their own cards, which they scan in themselves. Te department was already tracking students with special needs for safety and security purposes. “All we had to do was add a column into Zonar and they did it for us,” he said. Anderson and Hammond agreed that the
paper trail tends to run cold when it comes to Medicaid reimbursement “We had all those darn paper logs, and
drivers never remembered to fill them out or they weren’t accurate. Tey’d fill them out at the end of the week and say, 'Suzy rode the bus Monday through Friday,’ and when we got audited, she wasn’t even in school,” he noted. “With the time and date stamps, you know who was on, who was off, when they were on and off. You have everything.” Hammond recalled using a paper-based
system at another Colorado district. “Tere was an amazing amount of paper
produced trying to capture that information. When the driver was off for a week and the sub driver didn’t fill it out or fill it out correctly, we were constantly going back and trying to get it,” he said.
How does Medicaid impact transportation emplouees? Visit
www.stnonline.com/go/3v to find out.
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