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

      Process Claims in KidKare

      Table of Contents

      In This Article

      Prepare to Process Claims

      Understand Types of Claim Paperwork

      Your providers send you their claim information each month. For those providers using KidKare, this information comes in via the Internet. For those providers who use scannable forms or your pre-existing forms, this information comes in the mail, and, in some cases, is dropped off at your office.

      KidKare Providers

      If your providers use KidKare, your providers usually send very little paperwork to you. Unless you use eForms, you do receive printed child enrollment and income eligibility forms. However, KidKare generates a report with each new child enrollment.

      Child Enrollment Reports

      Providers can send child enrollment reports any time during the month. So, you could receive signed child enrollment forms throughout the month. When you receive a signed enrollment form, the provider has enrolled a new child, which means you need to activate that child before they are creditable in Minute Menu HX. 

      We recommend that you do not deal with new enrollments until the second or third day of the month. At that time, run the Activate New Children function to activate these children.

      Tracking Received Claims

      You automatically receive KidKare provider's child and claim information in real time. 

      For any claims that you receive by paper, we recommend that you stamp the date received on the envelopes as you open them, or stamp the CIF and any Menu forms. You can also use the Track Received Claims function to note that the forms were received.

      Other Paperwork for KidKare Providers

      Some states require that you have printed versions of the provider's claimed meals and attendance on file. If you operate in one of these states, we recommend that you require your providers to print the Claimed Foods and Attendance report when they submit their claims via KidKare. You then must file these reports once you receive them. Direct your providers to the print the Claimed Foods and Attendance Report under Meals & Attendance report in their KidKare account.

      Manual Forms

      You probably already have a good method in place to deal with handwritten forms received from your providers. Once you start using KidKare, you can still deal with your handwritten forms in the same way, even as they are being phased out. If you don't use KidKare, or if you continue to have a small number of handwritten forms on an ongoing basis, you can process these claims as Direct Entry claims. This allows you to provide all of KidKare detailed analysis on these claims. However, you must manually add any new child enrollments to the KidKare database. When you receive manual forms, use the Track Received Claims function to note this paperwork was received. 

      To process this claim as a Direct Entry claim, you must:

      1. Review the submitted menus and note any meals that must be disallowed
      2. Use the Record Full Month Attendance function to enter attendance information.

      If you are handling these claims as 100% manual, the claim totals are added to KidKare after meals and attendance are manually counted.

       

      Process Claims

      When you process claims, you create a claim from information provided by your providers that pays providers the appropriate amount. Processing claims takes into account all Food Program regulations and determines Tier 1 and Tier 2 meal counts. Before processing claims, ensure that you have done the following:

      • Ensure your providers have submitted claim information in KidKare.

      • Enter Direct Entry claims received on paper into KidKare via Record Full Month Attendance.

      To process claims:

      1. From the menu to the left, click Claims then select Process Claims. The Process Claims window opens.

      2. Click the Claim Month drop-down and select the claim month for which to process claims. This should default to the current claim month set in KidKare. You can only process claims for your current claim month and the two preceding claim months. 

      3. When processing claims for the first time for the selected claim month, select Process New Claim Data in the Processing Mode  drop down.
      4. Select the claim source for which to process claims.  In most cases you will select KidKare.  If you are still using our scannable forms, select Scannable Forms.  You can also select both options if you are processing claims from both claim sources.
      5. Click .  Any providers who are ready to be processed display in the grid below. The grid remains blank if no providers are ready to be processed. Providers who are set to Pending or On Hold display in red.

      6. In the Additional Actions When Processing section, check the box next to each report to print:

        • Print Meal Totals Report: This report lists the approved meal count by tier and by meal for each day that was claimed. Click the corresponding # box and select the quantity of this report to print.

        • Print Provider Error Letters: This report lists errors that should be brought to the provider's attention.

        • Print Office Error Reports: This report prints internal claim errors. This is for your office to use.

          Note: If you print the Provider Error Letter and/or the Office Error report, click the Letter Format drop-down menu and select Short Version or Long Version.

        • Print CIF for: This prints the Claim Information Form while processing. If you choose to print this report, click the corresponding For drop-down menu and select the month for which to print the CIF. You could print this report for the current month and compare the processed results with the current month's child information for each providers. The system prints this report only for scanned claims (this includes Direct Entry claims) by default. To print this for other claims, as well, select All Providers.

        • If you have Pending or On Hold providers that are in the Process Claims list that appears after you complete Step 5, check the Activate Pending and On Hold Providers When Processing box. Once you click Process, this sets those Providers to Active as of the first day of the claim month you selected in Step 2.

      7. Check the box to the left of each provider for whom to process claims. You can also click the box at the very top of the list to Select All displayed providers.

      8. Click Process Selected to process the claims selected in the previous step.  You can also use the drop down and select Process All to process all claims without having to select each one individually. 

      9. Once you Click Process All or Process Selected, the Process Claim Progress Bar appears at the top of the screen.  

      10. Once KidKare finished processing your claims, the selected repots in Step 6 will automatically save to your computer.  To view your claim totals and errors for each provider, review your Office Error Reports, or see the Claim Details page in List Claims.  

      If you are printing claim reports, you can sort the displayed providers in the order in which they should print on reports. You can sort by provider name or number. Click the Name column header or the # column header to sort in ascending or descending order.

       

      Process Late Claims

      When you process late claims, Minute Menu HX examines the information in a provider's file to determine how that claim should be paid. However, if the information on-file changes in the meantime, it can be difficult to guarantee accurate claims processing.

      Minute Menu HX stores accurate child files based on the date of enrollment and the date of withdrawal. This allows the claims processor to accurately examine late claim months in most circumstances. Tier information and licenses information are stored with effective start and end dates, which covers most late claim circumstances. Even so, occasionally data changes in the provider file can materially impact a claim.

      For example, suppose a provider's license capacity is seven (7) one month, and the next month it is six (6). If you re-process that provider's late claim, the provider may get disallowed for one child throughout the month if Minute Menu HX were only to look at the information in the provider's file for the current month.

      You can configure Minute Menu HX to look at historic data when processing claims. Following the example above, when you process the current claim, Minute Menu HX would check against a maximum capacity of six (6), and when you re-process the previous month's claim, it would check against a maximum capacity of seven (7).

      Contact Minute Menu HX Support if you would like Minute Menu HX to examine historic data when processing claims. When this  functionality is enabled, the Provider History and Child History functions are also always enabled (subject to functional security).

       

      Re-Process Claims

      Re-processing claims is sometimes necessary if you process a claim, but some piece of information was incorrect when the claim was processed initially.

      For example, suppose you process a claim for a provider whose Tier 1 eligibility expired the previous month per data in KidKare. In this case, the provider was reimbursed at Tier 2 rates. However, you realize that the provider's Tier was renewed and the information in KidKare is out-of-date. You update the provider's Tier information accordingly. Now, you should re-process the provider's claim so they are reimbursed at the correct rate.

      To Re-process claims:

      1. From the menu to the left, click Claims then select Process Claims. The Process Claims window opens.

      2. Click the Selected Claim Month drop-down menu and select the claim month for which to re-process claims. This should default to the current claim month set in KidKare. You can only process claims for your current claim month and the two preceding claim months.

      3. In the Processing Mode section, select Re-Process Existing Claims.

      4. Click . Providers for whom you've already processed claims display.

      5. Check the box next to each provider for whom to re-process claims.

      6. Click Process Selected to process the claims selected in the previous step.  You can also use the drop down and select Process All to process all claims without having to select each one individually.
      7. Once you Click Process All or Process Selected, the Process Claim Progress Bar appears at the top of the screen.  Once KidKare finished Re-processing your selected claims, the updated reports selected in the Additional Actions While Processing section will automatically save to your computer.  To view your updated claim totals and errors, review your Office Error Reports, or see the Claim Details page in List Claims. 

        You can also re-process individual claims from the List Claims window. To do so, click Reprocess at the top of the claim details page. 

       

      Track & Process Claims from Home

      When working from home, you may not have access to a printer. KidKare has tools that can help you process and monitor claims without printing reports to paper.

      Processing Claims & Manual Adjustments

      Process all of your claims first and then make any manual adjustments. If you make adjustments and then process claims, your adjustments are deleted. Therefore, it is best to process all claims first and make your adjustments last so you do not lose the adjustments.


      Stay Organized with Track Received Claims

      Use the Track Received Claims feature to keep track of providers who have submitted claims, as well as which of those claims you've already processed. This allows you to remained organized in a paperless environment. 

      1. Click the Claims menu and select Track Received Claims. The Track Received Claims window opens.

      2. Select the All Providers option in the Filter By section.

      3. Click the Select Claim Month drop-down menu and select the claim month you are tracking.

      4. Click Refresh List. A check in the Processed column indicate that you've processed the listed provider's claim. The processed date displays in the Date column.

      View Received Claims You Haven't Processed

      If you need to see those claims you've received but have not yet processed, you can check the Show Only Received Not Processed box and click Refresh List to view a list of unprocessed claims.

      Generate and Save Error Reports

      If you skip the Print Office Error Reports option during claims processing, you can generate the Office Error report and the Provider Error Letter and save a digital copy to your computer. 

      Print it directly from the Reports Menu:

      1. From the menu to the left, click Reports , select Claim Data
      2. Run the Claim Error Report for the claim month and provider needed. 

      Providers using KidKare can download and print their own Provider Error Letter directly from KidKare. They can view instructions for doing so here.

      Print Reports to PDF

      We recommend you print reports to PDF whenever possible—especially if you are emailing them to your providers. Note that you must have a PDF creator installed before you can print to PDF. If you do not, you can download and install CutePDF Writer for free here (external link). To change the printer used when printing reports:

      1. Generate a report as you normally would. See the bullets and linked articles, above.

      2. In the Report Viewer, click .The Print Setup dialog box opens.

      3. Click the Name drop-down menu and select your PDF printer, Adobe PDF, for example.

      4. Click OK.

      5. Click Print to print the report. Your PDF printer name should display.

      6. Click OK.

      7. Browse to the location on your computer in which to store the report, and click Save. You can now email the PDF report to your provider, if needed.

       

       

       

      Claim Information Form

      When you print Claim Information Forms (CIFs) or any other report containing a list of a provider's children, you are prompted for an effective claim month for the report. The effective claim month is used to determine which children are included in the report. The system examines enrollment dates and, if present, the withdrawal dates for each child for the given provider. It then includes all children who were enrolled for at least one day in the effective claim month on the report. So, when you print these reports, you may see children whose status is currently Withdrawn, because they were still active at least at some point in time during the month you selected when generating the report.

      Print the CIF From List Children

      1. Click the Providers menu and select List Children. The List Children window opens.

      2. Click the Provider drop-down menu and select the provider.

      3. Click Print CIF (bottom). The PDF report is generated for the current claim month.

       

      Print the CIF From the Reports Menu

      1. Click the Reports menu, select Claim Forms, and click Claim Information Form (CIF). The Select Provider dialog box opens.

      2. In the Filter By section, click Selected Provider or Multiple Providers. If you selected Multiple Providers, go to Step 4.

      3. If you chose the Selected Provider option, click the Provider drop-down menu and select the provider.

      4. Click Continue. If you selected one provider, go to Step 7. If you selected the Multiple Providers option, the Provider filter window opens.

      5. Set filters for the providers to include in the export.

        • Check the box next to each filter to use, then select the appropriate value. For example, check the Child Enrollment Renewal Received box to filter by child enrollment renewals. Go to Step 6.

        • Check the Choose Providers From List box and click  to select providers from a list. Then, in the Choose Provider List, check the box next to each provider to include.

      6. Click Continue. The Select Month dialog box opens.

      7. Click the Select Month drop-down menu and select the effective claim month for the report.

      8. Click Continue. If you are set up to use child groups, the Select Child Groups to Exclude dialog box opens.

      9. Click the child group(s) to exclude from the report. To include all child groups, select None. 

      10. Click Continue. If you are printing this report for a single provider, the PDF is generated and this process is complete. If you are printing this report for multiple providers, the Provider Nested Sort Order dialog box opens.

      11. Click the Filter First By and the Then By drop-down menus and select the sorts to use. Then, click Continue. The PDF is generated.

      Print the CIF While Processing Claims

      When processing claims, check the Print CIF box and specify the effective month for the CIFs you are printing. A CIF prints for each processed claims.

      Print the CIF After Processing Claims

      1. Click the Claims menu and select Print Provider Claim Reports. The Print Provider Claim Reports window opens.

      2. Check the Print CIF For box.

      3. Select the claim month for which to print the CIF.

      4. Set additional filters, as needed.

      5. Click Print.

      When printing CIFs, each child group in which a provider has a child enrolled prints on a separate page. This means that even if a provider only cares for three (3) children and those children are enrolled in Group 1, 2, and 3, respectively, the CIF for that provider prints each child on a separate page. We recommend that you train your providers on how to effectively enroll children.