Hello, everyone!
We had a follow-up call today with the person in charge of PEP at and some leaders of Home Education Instructional Programs (which I'll refer to here as HEIPs to save my fingers from typing it out every time).
Like the call 2 weeks ago, the purpose of this call was to get updates on what's being done behind the scenes in EMA in terms of getting HEIPs onboarded and approved--both in the drop-down lists for reimbursements and (if desired) in the Provider Marketplace so parents can submit payment for services directly through EMA.
We did also address some things relevant to parents, though!
Here's a summary of what was covered:
First, we spent some time addressing individual concerns for the specific HEIPs that were on the call, to verify they'd submitted everything and so the Step Up rep knew if there were any that he needed to personally follow up on to see why they weren't yet approved.
There was also some useful general information covered...
Important things for parents to know:
Re: Submitting reimbursements for HEIP tuition for this school year but that was paid for in advance PRIOR to July 1st of this year: If the purchase was for this school year, it will be reimbursable, even if you paid prior to July 1st, 2023. But the system is set not to allow invoice purchase dates prior to July 1st. So, to get around this: Upload your Reimbursement as usual, but put the first date of attendance as the purchase date. Then type in notes that it was a prepay but for this school year. (So, for example, if you pre-paid for your 2023-2024 classes at an HEIP and paid ahead-of-time in March or April 2023, but the first class session didn't meet until August 15th, 2023, you would put August 15, 2023 as your "Purchase Date," NOT the date from March or April when you actually paid. Then, in the notes area, type in that this was payed in advance in March but is for classes that run from August 15, 2023 to May 8, 2024--or whatever your specific dates for those classes are.) He said he is going to communicate with the process team and the reimbursement team to make sure everyone understands what's happening if they see a reimbursement come in this way.
Re: Spending caps on categories: Brenda and I communicated our concerns about the spending caps (especially for Learning Manipulatives, but also the caps in general) to the Step Up rep on the call, as well as the issue of items being miscategorized when purchased through MyScholarShop. He took notes and is going to address these with his team. He is also aware that the Recent Transactions tab is currently not showing--he is also going to mention this to his team. He believes it might be because they are working on tech/back-end stuff with that section right now, but he expects it to reappear within the next few days.
Re: Reimbursements on the cards, timeline to actually receive funds, parents being told by Step Up to call US Bank only to be told by US Bank to call Step Up, etc. -- He did not have any specific info on this but he's going to address this with the appropriate people to see what he can find out. He did acknowledge that there have been issues with the cards and that Step Up is still working on solutions. He also reiterated that they now have over 100,000 submitted reimbursements in EMA, which is why they are behind in processing, but they are working behind the scenes to streamline the reimbursement process (as we mentioned in our livestream last week) AND they have hired additional processors, so they hope the process will speed up soon.
GENERAL CONCERNS: He asked me to email him the list I've compiled of the recurring concerns I'm hearing from parents so he can follow up on them. I am going to do so this afternoon. We also invited him to join our forum here, so he can see some of your posts/concerns for himself.
Important things for HEIPs to know:
Once you are approved in the Provider Marketplace, parents can submit services for your HEIP directly through EMA, and then you will be able to approve them from your end. The process does not require additonal Step Up approval, at that point (because you/your services will have been pre-vetted), and is quick! You just have to be fully set up in the Provider Marketplace with all your services input and set up.
Payment turnaround: Once the service is submitted and the HEIP (provider) invoices/approves it, the money should be paid into the provider's account by the following Friday.
As of right now, you will not get notifications from EMA when a parent submits a service, so you may want to check regularly. (However, the head of PEP at Step Up is communicating the desire for notifications to his team, because that would make things a bit easier for HEIPs.)
Parents cannot cancel a service once the provider (in this case, the HEIP) has invoiced and approved it. Only the provider (or Step Up, after speaking with the provider) may cancel invoices at that point. This is to prevent parents from submitting a service, actually doing the service at your HEIP, and then going back in and cancelling in EMA to try to get their money back after the fact. It's a safeguard for the Providers.
When a service is purchased through the Provider Marketplace, their system does not allow the provider to invoice/get paid until the service is completed. For this reason, the Step Up rep/PEP director is encouraging HEIPs (as Providers) to input their services on a quarterly, monthly, weekly, or whatever other basis works best for them--so that they won't have parents purchasing "Yearly" services for which the HEIP cannot be paid until the end of the school year. (And also because parents get funds quarterly, so they may not have enough in their accounts to pay for yearly up front.)
We have another follow-up call scheduled in two weeks, so that we can get updates directly from the PEP director at Step Up and communicate any new/ongoing questions or concerns.
I also just want to acknowledge what a gift it is to have him personally engaging and communicating with us like this on an ongoing basis.
I know parents (and HEIP leaders!) are frustrated with many things related to PEP, and change is taking time. But--change and improvements are happening, and it's a massive benefit to have the head of the PEP program in direct communication with us and so willing to listen to our concerns. He is willingly taking his time every two weeks to do these lengthy calls with us to make sure he understands the needs of PEP parents and the HEIPs so that Step Up can work toward improvements and solutions. That's not to be taken lightly!
We are a part of an HEIP, it meets all of the requirements outlined in the purchasing guide, and I have provided all documentation. I have been dilegent in providing everything asked, and making sure the program i selected was qualified. I have asked for reimbursements for 6 kid, for August, Sept, Oct, and November (24 total), and so far, all of the ones that have been reviewed thus far are being put "on hold" because they are not an "approved provider." My program is currently trying to get approved, but in the meantime my reimbursements should still be approved based off of the purchasing guidelines- being an approved provider is not a requirement. What can I do to help the reviewers understand this and who can be contacted to get the decisions reversed? I would love if this could be escalated as I am still waiting on a large sum** of reimbursements and it is putting us in a difficult spot on whether we can continue this program, which covers a large portion of our children's education. Thank you!