Hello, everyone!
Brenda and I (and the leaders of several home education instructional programs) were on a video call today with the person who oversees the PEP program at Step Up.
From that call, here's what we know...
About Reimbursements (in general):
They are actively processing reimbursements, but between PEP, UA, and their other programs, they currently have about 90,000 submitted reimbursements in the EMA system alone (not even including any submitted through their Legacy system).
The good news is that they just tripled the hiring of their processing staff, to address the volume--so we can expect to see the processing speed up in coming weeks.
About Reimbursements and/or "Direct-Pay" for Home Education Instructional Programs:
Step Up is having a special work session this week to go through, verify, and onboard the Home Education Instructional Programs that have applied as Providers and to ensure they're all categorized properly in EMA so that they can be selected for Reimbursements AND so they can be in the Provider Marketplace for direct-pay if they've requested to be direct-pay.
We also knew of instances where reimbursements for Home Education Instructional Programs, but had them denied because the processor was insisting the program needed to be categorized as Tutoring and needed to supply proof that they met all Tutoring requirements. (Which is untrue; Home Education Instructional Programs have their own set of requirements; it is not the same as Tutoring).
There are some details to be worked out for how direct-pay (Provider Marketplace) setup will work for Home Education Instructional Programs, since these programs do not necessarily fit in "the box" for how the system is set up with standard selections of tuition, fees, etc. Step Up is going to work further with us and with the Home Ed program leaders to ensure that things are set up in a way that works for Home Education Instructional Programs.
The Step Up representative also said they are making notes on the different situations the Home Education Instructional Program leaders brought up, so they can follow up on complications with getting reimbursements approved for some of the Home Ed Instructional Programs, and so they can better educate their processors/customer support about Home Ed Instructional Programs.
We will be meeting again on a call with the Step Up rep in a couple weeks to check back in and to go over any new questions or concerns that have come up as they move forward with processing/onboarding all the Home Education Instructional Programs into their EMA system for both the Provider Marketplace and on the Reimbursements drop-down menu.
I wasn't sure where to ask this question, but it is reguarding reimbursements. When having a receipt with multiple items purchased (example - multiple school supply items from Target) what is the best way to submit these? Can we bulk them together since it is under the same category and submit only one reimbursement?
If we have a receipt with multiple items in different categories would those need to be separted under difference reimbursements, but still uploading the same receipt each time?
Was wondering if anyone has done this and been successful with having them approved. Thanks in advance for your help!
I have called SUFS twice this week with 2 different answers regarding my reimbursements. I have multiple OT sessions that I began submitting Sept 22. They started approving the sessions last week, 11/14/23. On Monday, 11/21/23, I was told it would be 3-5 business days to see the funds on my card for the approved sessions. After not seeing them on my card, I called today, 11/22/23, and was told it will take up to THIRTY DAYS for the FIRST approval to be funded on my card. That's 90 days our from when it was first submitted! I find that to be a long time for us parents to have to prepay for our services and wait for reimbursement. He also said after the first one it should be about 7 days to see the funds. Only time will tell. I have also had an invoice going in circles being put on hold for lack of provider's credentials. Her invoices have all of her info. I was asked to also submit proof of payment. I did what was asked and highlighed her credentials listed on her invoice. It was put on hold again asking for her license. AGAIN, I submitted the same invoice and am currently waiting. Mind you, the same info is on previously APPROVED invoices. It doesn't make sense. I called about it but unfortunately, the representative cannot do anyting about it other than type some notes into the system hoping someone will see it and actually LOOK at the invoice to see the credentials requested. I'm finding this program to be very frustrating where it should be much easier. I understand growth pains and hopefully they will improve these issues quickly.
I didn't see anything in the bill regarding the timeline for reimbursements. Are there any rules SUFS has to follow when reimbursing us?
Thanks for the info! I'm not on any social media so your forum is the only place where I can see what is going on with PEP and what others are experiencing. I have still not received on my reimbursement card any funds for our approved reimbursements (the first approvals were a month ago). When I asked SUFS about it, they said it takes 10-14 days. Did they mention anything on the call about how long it takes for the funds to appear on the card? Are others also experiencing this delay? Thanks again for the info!
Thank you. There is a rumor going around that they have 5 employees working on the reimbursements. Did they say how many employees they have working on the 90,000 submissions?