Hi there! I was trying to look ahead to the end of the year and how/what/when would I get my 4 kids tests done. I reached out to a test company and found out they are not able to be in direct payment with PEP and would need to pay upfront. But testing is a REQUIRED part of the program. I know a lot of families are like me and cant afford a lot of out of pocket expenses. Thats why we signed up for PEP to begin with. For the particular place i contacted, the fee is $75 per child. That's not a small amount for something that is REQUIRED and will have to pay out of pocket and wait 60 days for reimbursement. Can we figure out a way for all approved test companies to get direct payment if for no other reason than it's a required expense per the scholarship statute?
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As far as I know, there is nothing preventing any qualified company from becoming a direct-pay provider (which is now called Provider Marketplace). They may not WANT to be one, but that's a separate issue. To get on the list for Provider Marketplace, the testing company (or evaluator, or business, or whoever is offering the test) would need to apply to become a Provider, or a Vendor in MSS if they're selling the test direct to parents, and ensure their business meets all of the Provider requirements. So... other than perhaps that this company didn't meet requirements for whatever category of Provider they were applying to be, I'm not sure why they would say they're unable to do so. If I knew an exact reason Step Up gave them for why they couldn't, I might be able to look into it more.