BASIC ELEMENTS OF MEAL COUNTING AND CLAIMING

1
BASIC ELEMENTS OF MEAL COUNTING AND CLAIMING

• Eligibility Documentation
• 2) Collection Procedures
• 3) Point of Service Meal Counts

2
BASIC ELEMENTS OF MEAL COUNTING AND CLAIMING

• 4) Reports
• 5) Internal Controls
• 6) Claiming for Reimbursement

3
OVERT IDENTIFICATION

• Student eligibility must never be publicized or
  used in such a way it may be recognized by other
  students or staff.

4
ELIGIBILITY DOCUMENTATION

• You must have documentation supporting the
  eligibility of each student receiving Free and
  Reduced-priced meals.

5
ELIGIBILITY DOCUMENTATION

• Approved Free and Reduced Price Applications
• Direct Certification from Wisconsin Division of
  Workforce Development (DWD) listing the names of
  Students receiving FoodShare or W-2 cash benefits

6
COLLECTION PROCEDURES

• Receive payment for meals from students
• Issue the medium of exchange
• (Cash, ticket, token, ID, name, or number)
• Medium of exchange is used to obtain a meal

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COLLECTION PROCEDURES

• Overt Identification
• must be prevented during issuing and collecting
  of the medium of exchange

8
POINT OF SERVICE MEAL COUNT

• Point Of Service
• Is the point where it can be determined that a
  reimbursable Free, Reduced-Price and Paid Meal
  has been served to an eligible student.

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POINT OF SERVICE MEAL COUNT

• Procedures must include
• Meals counted for reimbursement must meet meal
  pattern requirements
• Meals are served to eligible students
• Meals are counted daily by category

10
UNACCEPTABLE MEAL COUNT SYSTEMS

• Attendance counts
• using the number of students in attendance as a
  meal count.
• Tray or entrée counts
• counting the number of trays or entrees used
  during the meal service to obtain the meal count.
• Classroom counts
• counting the number of students in class who
  intend to eat a meal prior to meal service.

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UNACCEPTABLE MEAL COUNT SYSTEMS

• Counts taken anywhere other than the point of
  service
• Cash converted to meals
• using cash totals to determine the number of
  meals served.

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UNACCEPTABLE MEAL COUNT SYSTEMS

• Category/cash back-out system
• one or more of the meal categories are
  calculated by subtracting the number of meals of
  one or more meal categories from the total meal
  count.
• Delivery counts of meals produced off-site
• the number of meals delivered to a school is not
  necessarily the number of meals actually served.

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REPORTS

• Numbers of daily reimbursable meals,
• for each category (F,R,P) to eligible students
  are recorded for each site.
• Recording method
• must ensure that correct counts by category are
  reported in a way that is easily read, edited and
  consolidated (if more than one site) into an
  accurate monthly claim for reimbursement on the
  internet.

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INTERNAL CONTROLS

• Internal controls must
• be established to ensure that an accurate claim
  for reimbursement has been made.
• protect Schools from making erroneous claims and
  potential over claims.

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INTERNAL CONTROLS

• Ensure accurate claim for reimbursement
• Two types of internal controls
• Edit Check
• Monitoring

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INTERNAL CONTROLS EDIT CHECKS

• Edit Checks
• compare meal count data to other information to
  identify possible problems in the meal count
  system.
• Any meal counts that do not seem reasonable Must
  be explained or investigated to ensure accuracy.

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INTERNAL CONTROLS EDIT CHECKS

• Potential problems include
• meal counts that exceed the number of eligible
  students in attendance
• meal counts that are the same every day
• meal counts where extremely high percentages of
  eligible students eat every day
• counts that seem to repeat in patterns
• counts that are the same as the number of meals
  delivered

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MONITORING INSURES

• Meal count reports are based on the approved
  counting system
• The counting system results in an accurate count
  of reimbursable meals by category each day.
• Corrective action is implemented if problems are
  identified
• SFA assures that problems are resolved.

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MONITORINGFOR SCHOOLS WITH MORE THAN ONE SITE

• Monitoring shall be completed prior to February 1
  and must ensure that
• the meal count reports are based on the approved
  counting system.
• the counting system, as implemented, yields the
  actual number of reimbursable Free,
  Reduced-price, and Paid meals for each day of
  operation.

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ANNUAL ON-SITE REVIEW FOR SCHOOLS WITH MORE THAN
ONE SITE

• For problems identified with the meal counting
  and claiming procedures
• a corrective action plan must be implemented
  (within 45 days).
• the School must ensure that problems are resolved.

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CLAIM FOR REIMBURSEMENT

• The counts from all sites are combined
• to generate a monthly claim for reimbursement
  (consolidating the claim).
• Consolidated claims
• are submitted by the School to DPI by entering
  data on the internet. (24/7)
• The number of reported sites
• should agree with the number of sites indicated
  on Schedule A of your contract.

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CLAIM FOR REIMBURSEMENT

• 1st day of month following claim month
• Each program requires separate claim entered
• Claims will not be paid 60 DAYS after end of
  claim month