Medicaid, Equipment, and Fiscal Documentation

Before accessing a student’s Medicaid or other public benefits for the first time, the LEA must obtain the required one-time written parental consent.

The LEA must also provide the required written notification before first accessing benefits and annually thereafter. The notice explains that consent:

• Does not reduce the family’s available lifetime coverage

• Does not require the family to pay a deductible or copayment

• Does not increase premiums or create another financial loss

• May be withdrawn by the parent

Refusal to consent to Medicaid billing does not relieve the LEA of its obligation to provide the IEP services at no cost to the parent.

Billing records must support the service identified in the IEP, provider qualifications, service date, duration, and other documentation required by the current Alabama Medicaid program.

Equipment purchased with IDEA funds must be used for the authorized program and maintained under federal property-management requirements.

Under the current Uniform Guidance, equipment generally means tangible personal property with a useful life of more than one year and a per-unit acquisition cost of $10,000 or more, or the LEA’s lower capitalization threshold. Award terms and local policies should be checked because older grants or policies may use a different threshold.

The inventory record should include:

• Description, serial number, or other identification

• Federal award and funding source

• Acquisition date and cost

• Federal participation in the cost

• Current location, use, and condition

• Disposition information

A physical inventory must generally be completed and reconciled at least once every two years. LEAs must also maintain safeguards against loss, damage, or theft.

• Billing Medicaid before obtaining required parental consent

• Treating refusal of Medicaid consent as a reason to reduce IEP services

• Service logs that do not match the student’s IEP or billing claim

• Missing serial numbers, locations, funding sources, or disposition records

• No documented biennial physical inventory

• Personnel charges unsupported by appropriate payroll or time-and-effort records