MEDICAID
employees question the accuracy and fear the amount of data compiled could make the district vulnerable to au- dits. She said the technology is still the best option, but it must be understood. “The paper trail is the most daunt- ing and the riskiest of all the methods,” Anderson said. Jason Chess, the former routing and technology lead
for Reynolds School District in Oregon and current ac- count representative for Tyler Technologies, agreed. “It feels like it’s 50-50 if other districts are unaware
or if they feel like the reimbursement is worth the effort,” he commented. “It may be too difficult or too time-consuming to make sure you’re doing it correctly. It may be worth it, but someone has to sit down and figure out all the details and processes upfront.” While federal requirements
are consistent throughout the nation, state requirements vary. So do the approaches of school districts, depending upon the states where they are located. Chess advised districts that are
interested in obtaining Medicaid reimbursement but have no ex- perience to seek help from their finance office and their technol- ogy provider, if they have one. “Do it yesterday,” he advised.
School Districts Officials at Gilmer Indepen-
personnel and problems keeping track of Medicaid eligi- ble student hours with the special education department. “We’re tracking students by hand on paper because we
do not have student tracking technology and for us it is easiest,” said Teri Brady, the district’s director of student transportation. “We are very low tech. We’re not going after any transportation dollars from Medicaid. I know it’s free money out there and we did go after it, but that was 20 years ago. “I think it’s a lot of effort and it takes more than one
department, so collaboration is important, especially nowadays with everyone being short on personnel. We’re trying to survive instead of taking [on] extra pa- perwork,” she added.
[Staff] just do better with paper
because they’re not computer proficient.
dent School District, located about 130 miles east of Dallas, are aware of the student tracking technology but have opted for their version of the paper chase. “Basically, it’s for our personnel,” said Rachelle Jones, the district’s transportation coordinator. “They just do better with paper because they’re not computer proficient.”
So far things are going well. “The drivers and moni-
tors turn in their forms to us,” she explained. “We keep a copy on file and send the form to a shared services department at [Upshur County]. They send in the reim- bursement request.” Jones added the county has not alerted the district to
any audits. However, Portland Public Schools in Oregon no longer pursues Medicaid reimbursements because of a lack of
46 School Transportation News • MARCH 2022
—Rachelle Jones, on why Gilmer ISD in Texas continues to apply for Medicaid reimbursement by hand.
Conversely, Barnstable Public Schools in Hyannis, Massachu- setts is managing the paper trail well despite personnel shortages. Transportation Director San- dy Gifford said she is looking forward to adding tablets to her student ridership technology that will lighten the load and make it easier to track Medicaid eligible students in the coming year. “We currently have the routing and bus pass software we use every day, and we also have the GPS piece that we actively use,” Gifford said. “The tablets will be new to us.” Gifford said her department also shares administrative func-
tions with the district’s finance department and the city, which oversees the Medicaid applications. “Right now, we log information in by hand for any of our in-house services,” Gifford explained. “We require a parent to call in if the child is not coming to school, and we require the driver to submit a daily report. Our routing software helps us build bus routes door to door. Going forward, we will use software developed by the same company and we will have tablets on all our buses. When the driver gets to a bus stop, they will need to check off whether a child gets on the bus or not. I think it’s going to be a lot easier for us and not put as much pressure on the drivers.” Gifford agreed that the process is complicated but
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