SAM calculates Care Payments for care of children in foster care.

Care Payments are calculated from Placements and Rate History records after running Care Payments Hub each month. This guides will go over how to record these records and run Care Payments Hub. 

 

Child Accounting Details Form

The Child Accounting Details form is the main form where the Child's Current Placement, Rate History, and Care Payments are shown. Users must have permission to view Child Accounting or have Full Admin permission to access this form. 

 

Access the Child Accounting Details Form

In SAM, open a Foster Child record > click Child Accounting Details (sidebar)

 

Placements 

SAM Guide: Placements & Respite

 

Rate History

Rate History records show a history of changes to rates paid for care of a Child by a Placing Authority to the Agency. Rate history rates can be set as Daily or Monthly depending on your contract with the Placing Authority. SAM can be customized to limit fields shown to either Daily or Monthly Rates, if your agency uses one or the other.

When adding a Rate History record, users enter: 

• Rate Start Date - date this rate history record starts
• Level of Care List - description of the child's level of care status (provided by Placing Authority) 
• Rate End Date - date the rate is discontinued. This can be left empty when first adding a new rate
• Administration Daily/Monthly Rate - amount paid to agency for care of child
• Foster Home Daily/Monthly Rate - amount paid to foster home provider for care of child
• Respite Daily/Monthly Rate - amount paid to respite providers for care of child

 

Add Rate History 

Users will add new rate history records for the following reasons: 

1. When a new placement occurs
2. When a new rate begins at the close of an existing rate history

In SAM, open a Foster Child record > click Child Accounting Details (sidebar) > click (+) Add Rate History > enter required data > Save

 

Important Notes when entering Rate History

It's possible to add multiple rate history records during a child's placement(s).  Rate Start Date must be the same date or a prior date to the initial Placement Start Date.  There must be no blank or overlapping dates in Rate History records. NO GAPS, NO OVERLAPS! SAM will not calculate a Care Payment with conflicting data.

 

Modifications to Rate History Records & Retroactive Rate Entries 

Update a Rate History Record when data is entered erroneously or new information has been shared that changes a child's level of care or rate(s) during the rate history record's time period (Rate Start Date - Rate End Date). 

Additional Rate History records should be added when a new rate starts with new dates. 

 

End Rate History 

Enter the Rate End Date into the desired Rate History record when a child discharges from care or when a child's rate changes and the rate is no longer applicable past the Rate End Date. 

 

Delete Rate History Records

Rate History records can be deleted for erroneous data entry. 

In SAM, open a Foster Child record > click Child Accounting Details (sidebar) > locate desired Rate History record > click meatball menu > Delete > confirm

 

Care Payments

Care Payments are monthly totals of payments made for the care of placed children.

Care Payment calculations are set by a Rate History record's Daily or Monthly Rate and the Care Type associated with their Placement/Child Location History records. 

 

Care Payments are divided into four types: 

Administration

Admin Care Payments = [Rate History - Administration Rate] x Days in Placement for Interval (Month)

Foster Home

Foster Home Care Payments = [Rate History - Foster Home Rate] x Days in Placement for Interval (Month)

Respite

Respite Care Payments = Rate History - Respite Rate x Days in Placement for Period for Interval (Month)

Additional Care Payments 

Care Payment records can also be manually added for things like clothing allowance or other stipends.

In SAM, open a Foster Child record > click Child Accounting Details (sidebar) > click Add (+) on Additional Payments Section > enter desired details > Save

 

Create Care Payments with Care Payments Hub

The Care Payments Hub (CPH) serves as a central repository to manage Foster Care Accounting settings. Within this screen, users can:

• Run Care Payments Hub to create Care Payments 
• Access a Report Menu of accounting reports
• Manage Accounting Configurations

Access Care Payments Hub

In SAM, click Settings (gear icon) > Care Payments Alternatively, a link to Care Payments Hub is available through the Child Accounting Details form (sidebar) for SAM Leads.

 

Run Care Payments Hub

Care Payment records are created for children after running Care Payments Hub for an interval.

Users can choose to run Care Payment Hub for all child records during a specified time period, using one of the sidebar links:

• Run for [Last] Month
• Run for Last 3 Months

In SAM, click Settings (gear icon) > Care Payments > click Run for [Last] Month (sidebar) > click ok when popup displays after processing This process may take a few minutes depending on how many records must be processed.

 

Run for Last 3 Months will recalculate Care Payment records to capture retroactive changes to rates when Rate History records are modified or Child Location History records are created for respite after care payments have been calculated.

 

Care Payments - Manually Trigger Overwrite for an Interval

Care Payments Hub can be run outside of the time period options above, using Care Payments - Manually Trigger Overwrite for an Interval on the sidebar. Users will set a combination of desired interval, child, and whether to only update that interval or for all intervals following the selected one

 

Results of Care Payments Hub

When Care Payments Hub has completed running, SAM will create Care Payments on the Child Accounting Details form for Child records where applied. 

 

If a child has a placement change mid-month, SAM will calculate two Care Payment records for each Foster Home's payment, and one Care Payment record for Administration. 

 

Rerun Care Payments Hub

Care Payments Hub can be rerun multiple times for a time period when:

• Rate History records are modified for retroactive rates, Rate Start, or Rate End dates
• New Rate History records are added that effect the time period being run
• Changes to Placement records

Care Payment records will be automatically deleted when you Run the Care Payments Hub, if you delete a Rate History record, or change the Start/End Dates of the Rate History.

 

Managing Care Payments

SAM requires users to enter payments sent and bill payments received on Care Payment records to calculate Net Amounts. 

 

Payment Breakdown

Under Care Payment records, Payment Breakdown records are recorded to show how each Care Payment was calculated. This is useful for mid-month rate changes. 

 

 

Accounts Payable | Payments Sent to Foster Home

Payments Sent records payments made to Foster Home Providers and calculate Payment Net Amount. 

• When Payment Sent Date is entered on a Care Payment record, a Payments Sent subrecord is created. This will mark the Total Amount as paid. 
• Multiple Payments Sent records can be added if the full amount was not paid at one time or if the Total Amount was updated due to retroactive rates updating the care payment record. 

 

Accounts Receivable | Bills Received from Placing Authority

Bill Payments Received records track payments from the Placing Authority (County/State) to Bill.

• Bill Payments Received subrecords calculate Bill Net Amount for a Care Payment record.
• When Bill Paid Date is entered on a Care Payment record, a Bill Payments Received subrecord is created. This will mark the Total Amount as billed.
• Multiple Bill Payments Received records can be added if the Total Amount was not paid by the Placing Authority at one time. 

 

Care Payments on Foster Family Records

Accounts Payable (AP)

AP records are monthly totals of the sum of Care Payments records per each Foster Family (Foster Home or Respite Providers). Payment To on the Care Payment records is used to identify the Foster Family record. 

No AP record will be generated if the Placement Location is not a Foster Family or is empty.

 

Care Payments on Organization Records

Accounts Receivable (AR)

AR records are monthly totals from the sum of the Care Payments records per each Entity to Bill (Organization).

Bill To on the Care Payment records is used to identify which Organization record the Care Payment record links to.

 

Webinar Highlight: Foster Care Accounting

Live demo on how to manage Foster Care Accounting in SAM. Covers the same information contained in this guide.

 

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Payment Type Configurations can be setup to enter Rate History records automatically. 

SAM Guide: Payment Type Configurations | Rate History