Payments
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      1. Home Providers and Sponsors
      2. KidKare for Home Sponsors
      3. Payments

      Issue Payments

      Table of Contents

      In This Article

      Understand Payment Management in KidKare

      KidKare creates payment transactions—either checks or direct deposits—for all issued payments. Even if you do not print checks with KidKare, use it to manage individual provider transactions to ensure that you accurately manage your claim funds. All payments are issued based on payment components.

      Payment Components

      There are two types of components for which payment can be issued: Claims and Non-Claim Adjustments.

      Every provider who has a Claim can receive payment. When you create a payment, you can specify which claims you are paying. This is important, because it is possible to have more than one claim record for a provider for a given claim month.

      Non-Claim Payment Adjustments are specific dollar amounts that you can add or remove from a provider's payment. These are unrelated to specific claim meal counts and should not be confused with Claim Adjustments. For example, suppose you offer a provider insurance program. You deduct money for this program from a provider's payment. This would be a Non-Claim Payment Adjustment. If a Non-Claim Payment Adjustment exists for a provider, you can choose whether to include it in any payment you issue.

      Negative Payments

      In some cases, the claim records you mark for payment for a provider may create a payment with a negative amount. If you issue such a payment to a provider, KidKare creates a zero-dollar payment for that provider and automatically creates a Non-Claim Payment Adjustment with the negative payment amount.

      The next time you issue payments, you could automatically include this Non-Claim Payment Adjustment so the negative amount is automatically deducted from the next issued check.

      Clearing Claims Out

      Claims and Non-Claim Payment Adjustments remain in the system until you are ready to pay on them. For accounting consistency, you can issue zero-dollar checks to clear out Claim records from your pending payment component list. This is especially the case if you have a claim that you marked as submitted to the state and later made an adjustment that zeroed-out the claim.

       

      Set Up Direct Deposit

      Direct deposit is a fast, electronic method of payment that ensures providers still receive payment in a timely manner. If you do not currently offer direct deposit but would like to, contact your bank/credit union and ensure that they can accept upload files for direct deposit. KidKare uses the nationally accepted ACH file format NACHA. 

      To set up direct deposit:

      1. Enter your bank information into the ACH Settings under the Administration menu as directed in the article linked. 
      2. Next, enter bank account information for each provider participating in direct deposit.
        1. From the menu to the left, click Providers and select Provider Information. The Provider Information window opens.
        2. Click the Provider drop-down menu and select the provider to change.
        3. Click the Other tab.
        4. Check the Uses Direct Deposit box.
        5. Click the Bank Account Type drop-down menu and select Checking, Savings or Money Market.
        6. Enter the bank account and routing numbers in the Bank Account Number and Bank Routing Number boxes.
        7. Click Save.
        8. Repeat Steps 2b - 2g for each provider for whom to set up direct deposit.
      3. Send the Pre-Note file to your bank to test the direct deposit.  You can find the Pre-Note file under Administration > ACH Settings as seen in the image below:
        • Contact your bank to determine where and how to upload the file to the bank's website.
        • If the file is rejected, find out why, fix the error, generate a new file, and try uploading again.
        • If the file goes through, and you confirm that there were no issues, the ACH file has been set up successfully, and you are ready to use KidKare to generate ACH files for direct deposit.

      If you re-use this Pre-Note file prior to each batch of direct deposits you run, you automatically check the validity of each provider's bank account and routing number, so you can be assured that all claims that you pay via direct deposit actually go to a valid bank account.

       

      Locate Providers Receiving Paper Checks

      Use the Provider List Export File to quickly locate providers who are still receiving paper checks as payment. You can then use the resulting list to contact providers and transfer them to direct deposit. Direct deposit is a fast, electronic method of payment that ensures providers still receive payment in a timely manner.

      To do so:

      1. First, generate the report:

        1. from the menu to the left, click Reports and select Providers then Provider List Export File. The Select Report Definition to Use dialog box opens.

        2. Click Search without selecting a report definition. The Provider Filter opens.

        3. Select all, multiple, or a single provider from the Select Provider(s) list and click Continue. The Select Output Data for Provider List Export window opens.

        4. Scroll down and check the Payment Type and Phone boxes.

        5. Click Continue.

        6. Once you click continue, and Export button appears.  Click Export. 

        7. The report will generate and you will save it as desired on your computer or device.

      2. Filter the resulting spreadsheet to show providers who don't currently use direct deposit.

        1. Click letter number 1 in the first row to highlight the entire first row.

        2. Click Data in the excel menu and then Filter in the top-right corner of the Home tab and select Filter. The first row of each column in the spreadsheet is now a drop-down menu you can use to filter.

        3. Click the UseDirectDeposit drop-down menu and clear the Select All box.

        4. Check the N box.

        5. Click OK. You now have a list of providers who receive paper checks, as well as a list of their phone numbers.

      3. Contact the providers on your list to set them up on direct deposit instead. Update their payment preferences in KidKare. For more information about doing this, see Set Up Direct Deposit in the article above.

       

      Format Checks

      Format your checks to ensure they print properly on your check printer. Once you've formatted checks in KidKare, you should only need to change these settings if you get a new check or a new printer. 

      Review how to Format Checks by clicking here.

       

      Issue Payments

      Use the Issue Payments function to issue checks and direct deposits. You can also use this function to obtain an export file of all checks/direct deposits for use in your own accounting system. Even if you do not pay your providers in KidKare use this function to organize and track provider payments.

      1. From the menu to the left, click Payments then select Issue Payments. The Issue Payments window opens.

      2. Filter to the providers to claim.

      3. Filter to the claims to pay. You can set the following filters:

        • Filter By Payment Method: Select Checks or Direct Deposit. Providers assigned to the payment method you select display. You set providers up for direct deposit in the Provider Information Other tab. If providers are not specifically set up for Direct Deposit, they receive checks. See Set Up Direct Deposit above for more information.
        • Claim Type: Select All, Web, or Non-Web.
        • Include Non-Claim Payment Adjustments: Check this box to include non-claim payment adjustments in the list. For more information about these adjustments, see Understand Payment Management at the top of this page. This option is checked by default. Clear it if your agency keeps strict separation of claim months and requires providers to re-pay funds when negative adjustments are made.
      4. Check the box next to a claim batch to pay. The claim batches listed in this box are split up to show the claim months for which claims are awaiting payment, as well as a further breakdown by the date those claims were submitted to the state for reimbursement. You can also see whether a listed claim batch includes original claims and those that include positive vs negative adjustments. This allows you to select exactly which claims you wish to pay.
      5. Click Calculate. The system compiles all claims for payment based on your filtering criteria. This process can take some time. Once it's finished, a list of provider payments displays. The Payable box is checked next to each provider you can pay.

      6. Review the Total Amount of selected payments that displays at the top left of the window. Unselect the box next to any provider payment you do not need to issue and the Total Amount will adjust automatically.

      7. To view/change change payment details, click the blue Details link to the right of the providers amount. The Provider Payment Details window opens and displays each payment component that can be paid and each component that will be paid. For example, if you set filters to exclude non-claim payment adjustments in the Issue Payments window, the box next to such payments is not checked in here.

        1. Check the box next to each additional payment component to include in this check/deposit. Clear the box to remove it.

        2. When finished, click Close. If you made change in this window, the Modified box is checked in the Issue Payments window.

      8. Click Print Selected. The Print Checks window opens. Review the payment information listed at the top of the window.

      9. Click the First Check Number box and enter the first number to assigned to the payments you are issuing (whether direct deposit or checks). You must still enter a number here even if you are only exporting payment information. If you are issuing direct deposits, you may not have an actual check number, so supply any number here. We recommend that you choose a unique check number range. For example, you could start at 1000, and the next time you issue payments, start at 1100.

      10. In the Print Order section, select Provider ID or Provider Last Name. This is the order in which checks or printed or providers are listed in the export file.
      11. Enter the Payment Date. If you are issuing payments in advance, use the date closest to when you expect to send payments to your providers. Once you save the payments in the database, KidKare providers will see that claims were paid once the date you enter here is reached.
      12. In the Print Destination section, specify where to print checks/send the file. You can select Printer, Export File, or Both. If you are printing checks in KidKare, you must select Printer or Both. If you do export a file, you can change the file name, if needed. Direct deposit and checks print in the same way when sent to the printer. The only difference is that you should print direct deposits on regular white paper and you should print checks on blank checks. Sending direct deposits to the printer provides you with paper records of the direct deposits.
      13. If you are issuing direct deposits, check the ACH File box. This will generate the ACH file while you run this print batch. Make note of the file name and location so you can retrieve the file later and upload it to your bank.

      14. Click the Print Batch Limit box and enter the maximum number of checks included in one print job. Minute Menu HX uses the Windows Spool Manager to combine a number of individual checks into one print job. This speeds up the printing process and helps minimize the possibility of another print job interrupting your check run. This box defaults to 1000. It does not affect the number of checks printed—just the number sent together as one batch.

      15. Click the Check Message box and enter a message to include on the checks or payment vouchers.

      16. Click Pre-Print Register to print an itemized register of all of the payments you're about to issue. Use the last page of this register to ensure that your incoming funds match your outgoing funds with this batch.

        Note: The Pre-Printed Check Register notes the details of checks that may be created automatically as part of this check run. For example, manual adjustments are noted here if you use the Monthly Check Deduction feature. Also, if you have chosen to pay a provider who would have otherwise received a negative check, a manual dollar adjustment that brings the check up to zero dollars (and any other offsetting non-claim payment adjustments) displays.

      17. If you are printing checks, click Print Test Check to ensure that the alignment matches up properly. If they do not, you can make adjustments on the Check Format screen until it matches.

      18. When you are ready, click Print. The system begins creating payment transactions. If you sent your payments to print, then checks/direct deposit receipts print.  

      19. When finished, click Close. 

      20. The Verify Successful Print Job screen appears. Enter the last successful printed check number, and the restarting check number.  Then select if you want to re-print the checks, or if the checks printed successfully. Once you verify that the check printed successfully, a check register will automatically generate and save in your downloads folder.  You can also print it directly from the confirmation pop up.
      21. Your payments have been issued successfully.

       

      Handle Lingering Payment Batches

      Every claim record in the system must be paid and can only be paid once. Once you pay a claim with the Issue Payments function, the KidKare database is updated to account for that payment. This means that any claim months present in the Issue Payments window indicates that there is at least one claim in that claim month that hasn't been paid.

      If prior claim months are listed in Issue Payments and you know that all claims within that month have already been paid, take note. To determine why these claims are still listed, isolate the earlier months in the Payable Claim Batches List and click Recalculate Payments. For more information, see the Issue Payments section above.

      There are a few reasons why provider claims may still be listed as awaiting payment:

      Negative Payments

      If you pay a provider and then later adjust their claim to remove meals, a negative adjustment is created. This negative adjustment claim must be accounted for on a payment, just like all other claims. KidKare does not issue negative payments by themselves by default. This means that KidKare does not account for this claim as having been paid until the provider has another claim with a total amount greater than the negative adjustment. This could cause claims to remain unpaid. If you never have another claim for this provider, you could use the Receive Money From Provider function to clear out the negative adjustment. For more information, see Receive Money from Providers.

      Zero Dollar Claims

      You may periodically have a zero dollar claim in your system. As stated above, Issue Payments does not pay providers unless they have a positive dollar amount for their check. Zero dollar claims may linger in the database until you take action clear them out.

      1. From the menu to the left, click Payments then select Issue Payments. The Issue Payments window opens.

      2. Set filters, as needed.

      3. Select All checkboxes under the Payable column and click Calculate.

      4. Click deselect all boxes under the Payable column.

      5. Check the Payable box next to each zero-dollar claim only.

      6. Click Details next to each zero-dollar claim and confirm that the total is truly zero.

      7. Click Print Selected. The Print Checks window opens.

      8. Click the First Check Number box and enter an arbitrary starting check number.

      9. Complete the remaining field as shown in the Issue Payments section above.

      10. In the Print Destination section, select Export File and name the file accordingly.

      11. Click Print. The process runs and the zero-dollar payments are now marked as Paid. The old claim month batches should not continue to show in the Issue Payments window going forward.