MEMORANDUM

DISCUSSION:

The purpose of this memo is to notify staff of the statewide vendor specialization plan to create five offices whose purpose is to maintain exclusively any supercase that includes an MHABD Vendor Eligibility Unit. The Vendor Specialization Plan is designed to meet the needs of a growing number of Missouri residents who require nursing home care but cannot afford it. The size of this population, many members of which have never received Family Support Division (FSD) services, grows every year and is expected to continue growing for many years to come. This initiative will allow FSD to develop a uniform, streamlined, and consistent approach to MHABD Vendor eligibility throughout the state. This initiative does not currently include cases under the Home and Community Based Services waiver (HCB) program.

Effective August 1, 2012, MHABD Vendor cases will begin to transition from the Kansas City Region to Lafayette County, and from the St. Louis Region to Madison County. Cases will be transferred in FAMIS over the weekend of August 4 – 5, 2012. Effective August 20, 2012, Vendor cases will transition from the Park Hills Customer Service Center and Iron County to the South Vendor Unit in Ozark County. This transition is a significant milestone in the ongoing statewide vendor initiative.

The North and Southwest Regions have already undergone this transition. The North Vendor Unit is in Livingston County, and the South Vendor Unit, which will eventually maintain all Vendor cases in the Southeast as well as the Southwest Region, is located in Ozark County. The launching of the Kansas City and St. Louis Vendor Units marks the beginning of the statewide implementation of this initiative.

A fifth Vendor Unit, currently referred to as the Vendor Processing Unit (VPU), is located in Miller County. The VPU is a highly specialized unit that processes the following types of Vendor applications:

• Applications with Divisions of Assets
• Applications in which an Eligibility Unit member is a party to a trust
• Applications in which an Eligibility Unit member owns an annuity
• Applications involving transfers of property
• Applications in which the Eligibility Unit is represented by legal counsel

Effective August 1, 2012, the VPU processes applications that are submitted to all four Vendor Units, and that meet the above requirements. Any materials that are submitted for the VPU at a local office should be transmitted to that office's designated Vendor Unit (to determine the location of the vendor offices see the attached map), which will transmit the information directly to the VPU. A VPU Screening Tool is attached for use by the Vendor Units.

As part of the specializations efforts, there is now a statewide MHABD Vendor Policy Liaison who handles policy clearances, including the interpretation of trusts and annuities, for the Vendor program. Please submit Vendor policy clearance requests, and all trusts and annuities for MHABD programs, via the IM-14 Request for Interpretation of Policy, in Word format, to FSD.IM14@DSS.MO.GOV for review. General questions about MHABD Vendor can be submitted by supervisors directly to the Policy Liaison at alex.daskalakis@dss.mo.gov.

Attached to this memo is an outline of the Vendor Specialization Plan. It includes an overview, map, timeline, and detailed procedures regarding protocols between local offices and Vendor Units, between Vendor Units and the VPU. If you have a question about the procedure for sending information to Vendor Units, please review the plan and discuss with your Supervisor.

NECESSARY ACTION:

• Review this memorandum with appropriate staff
• Send information received in the local office to the designated vendor unit

AC/ad

ATTACHMENTS:

MO HEALTHNET VENDOR SPECIALIZATION PLAN
MAP OF VENDOR UNITS
VPU SCREENING TOOL FOR VENDOR UNITS