Adult Medicaid Admin. Letters

DMA ADMINISTRATIVE LETTER NO. 16-02 ADDENDUM 2, FRR/BEER SECURITY

DSS ADMINISTRATIVE LETTER NO. ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE

(WORK FIRST AND FOOD STAMPS) 04-2002

DSS ADMINISTRATIVE LETTER NO. ADULT AND FAMILY SERVICES 02-2002

DIVISION OF AGING, ADULT SOCIAL SERVICES SECTION ADMINISTRATIVE LETTER 04-1

TO: COUNTY DIRECTORS

ATTENTION: INCOME MAINTENANCE DIRECTORS

MEDICAID CASEWORKERS AND SUPERVISORS

WORKFIRST CASEWORKERS AND SUPERVISORS

FOOD STAMP CASEWORKERS AND SUPERVISORS

SPECIAL ASSISTANCE CASEWORKERS AND SUPERVISORS

SECURITY CONTROL OFFICERS

FRR/BEER CONTROL OFFICERS

DATE: October 29, 2004

SUBJECT: SECURITY OF INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE (FRR) AND SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION (BEER)

I. General

The purpose of this letter is to provide updated information concerning the requirements for using and securing Federal Tax Information (FTI) received from the IRS and the SSA. The changes in this letter are effective immediately.

The changes include:

A. Procedures for mailing reports between counties.

B. Clarification on use of the FRR/BEER Safeguard Awareness Training Online.

C. Modification to Attachment VI.

D. Retention of the FRR and BEER reports.

These modifications are a result of questions that arose from Addendum 1 of this Administrative Letter.

II. Procedures for mailing reports between counties

If your county receives an FRR/BEER report that belongs to another county or your county is missing a page that should have been received, follow the procedures below:

(II. CONT’D)

“All shipments of FTI must be documented on a transmittal form and monitored to ensure that each shipment is properly and timely received and acknowledged. All FTI transported through the mail or courier/messenger service must be double-sealed; that is one envelope within another envelope. The inner envelope should be marked confidential with some indication that only the designated official or delegate is authorized to open it.” (IRS Publication 1075, Section 4.5)

This means that when an FRR or BEER report is mailed from one county dss to another county dss it must be:

A. Sealed in two envelopes.

B. Both envelopes must have the names of the Primary and Secondary County Security Control Officers. The names can be obtained by calling the IEVS Coordinator or the county the reports belong to.

C. The inner envelope must have at a minimum the following text:

DO NOT OPEN IN THE MAIL ROOM

Please deliver immediately

D. Contact the receiving county to let them know the report has been mailed.

E. Document the distribution log.

NOTE: If the control copy can not be mailed with the worker copy, because other individuals are on the same page, document the control copy and let the receiving county know the control copy can not be sent.

In addition, please notify the IEVS Coordinator about the problem so follow up can be done with the operations center that packages and mails the reports.

III. Use of the frr/beer safeguard awareness training online

During the internal inspections this year, it became apparent that some counties were just having their staff complete the online training at their desk and then sign the documentation of annual security training. This can not be done. The online training was designed as a tool for the trainer to use during the annual security training or as a guide for their own training packet.

Please continue to utilize the online training slideshow, but the training must still be a formal training with a trainer that covers the material and provides the required handouts.

IV. Modification to attachment vi

Please use the letter attached to this addendum when requesting information reported on the FRR/BEER report from the applicant/recipient. The following text has been added to the letter:

“I have enclosed a release form (DMA-3431) that authorizes us to contact the source of this income or resource.”

V. Retention of the FRR and BEER reports

The monthly FRR/BEER reports dating back to November 2000 are being stored on tape. Please destroy any FRR/BEER reports that are more than 2 years old, but not prior to November 2000. Any reports older than November 2000 should be kept for future auditing purposes. Click here for destruction procedures.

In addition, keep any report (worker copy) and verification documents where the source of the information is the FRR/BEER report. This information should be kept to match the DHHS case record retention schedule found at the following URL:

http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/control1/

If you have any questions regarding this information, please contact your Medicaid Program Representative.

Sincerely,

Gary Fuquay, Director

Division of Medical Assistance

Pheon Beal, Director

Division of Social Services

Karen Gottovi, Director

Division of Aging and Adult Services

(This material was researched and prepared by Ken Maddox, IEVS Coordinator, DMA/EIS Unit.)