A new program, Eligibility Verification Review (EVR), has been introduced by the New York City Human Resources Administration's (HRA's) Office of Revenue and Investigation designed to ensure that only eligible applicants are accepted for pubic assistance. The program is an added enhancement to the ongoing eligibility verification process which will serve to review all persons who apply for public assistance under the HR (Home Relief) category. It affects HR singles and couples but does not pertain to applicants and recipients who are pregnant, homebound, in residential treatment, serviced by Division of Aids Services (DAS), or whose case has been reopened within 30 days.
To date, eleven NYC Income Support (IS) Centers have implemented the program as a pilot and by March 1, 1995 all NYC IS Centers will be fully participating. The IS Centers will process the initial EVR application and will provide a referral to EVR investigators at 330 Jay Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201. Clients must report to Jay Street and when the EVR determination is made by EVR, a Report of Eligibility Determination will be sent to the IS Center with a Notice of Compliance with EVR provided to the client.The EVR anticipates servicing 120,000 - 130,000 cases per year; each case requiring 14 days to determine acceptance, denial, reduction or rejection (if applicant is in receipt of an emergency grant, the case cannot be denied but must be "rejected"). The WMS codes known thus far are:
• 245 Denied. Applicant Failed to Report to EVR
• 246 Denied. Any other reason (excess resources, duplicate benefits, non-resident, etc.)
• Rejection and reduction codes have not yet been determined.
At this time, the IS Centers have not devised a way to distinguish these notices from all others. It is hoped that the reason for the action will include a reference to EVR; ideally, the notice should have a stamp at the top clearly identifying that the action is pursuant to the EVR process.
The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) has advised EVR that WMS closing codes will be insufficient for our staff to identify these cases and guarantee proper notification to EVR who intends to bring documentation to the hearing in addition to the case presentation by the City representative. We will not adjourn such cases if the EVR fails to be notified; EVR and the IS Centers must develop their own internal notification procedures.
If you can distinguish these cases with the information herein provided, they should be coded as follows:
Agency: NEVR/ISC# (in this order)
Category: HR
Subcategory: None
Action: DENY, DISC, REDU
This coding will ensure that electronic notification and a decision after hearing is generated for:
David Kaufman, Director
Eligibility Verification Review (EVR)
330 Jay Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201
and that these cases are segregated on a separate calendar (NEVR must appear in the first position of the agency field).
|
