LACOE's School-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities (SMAA) Program is authorized under the California Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC), Section 14132.47, and is funded by federal and local funds.
The SMAA Program offers a way for Local Educational Consortia (LECs) to obtain federal reimbursement for the cost of certain administrative activities necessary for the proper and efficient administration of the Medi-Cal program. LECs must have a signed contract with the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to claim federal reimbursement and an approved claiming plan.
The Los Angeles County Office of Education is a LEC and is located in Region 11 of the California County Superintendent Educational Services Association.
- About SMAA
- Claiming SMAA
- SMAA Reimbursement
- Contact Us
What is SMAA?
- SMAA is a Federal program overseen by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, and administered by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS).
- The purpose of SMAA is to reimburse county offices of education, K-12 school districts, charter schools, and community colleges for administrative activities that support efforts to identify & enroll potential eligible participants into the Medi-Cal program, and assist them with accessing Medi-Cal covered services.
What activities are reimbursed?
- Administrative activities that facilitate enrollment into Medi-Cal and assisting eligible participants to access Medi-Cal services: Outreach; Facilitating Applications; Translation; Program Planning.
How does SMAA bring money to LEAs?
- By contracting with a Local Educational Consortium (LEC) in your region, LEAs are eligible to receive reimbursement from DHCS.
Resources
How can my district participate?
Claiming Units must:
- Contract through the LEC in your region
- Assign program and fiscal contacts
- Attend trainings and meetings
- Provide Time Survey Participant data – payroll, shifts, etc.
- Participate in State-approved time survey methodology (Random Moment Time Survey)
- Program contact person to train Time Survey Participants, and remind them to answer RMTS
- Maintain an 85% moment response compliance rate
- Provide and certify LEA-specific data – Medi-Cal eligibility rate, indirect cost rate, and other fiscal data
- Submit an invoice for reimbursement
- Maintain an operational/audit file
How does the LEC assist my LEA?
The LEC will:
- Assess the SMAA program to ensure appropriate participation
- Provide technical assistance training to LEA Staff
- Administer and oversee the RMTS process
- Conduct ongoing quality assurance reviews
- Validate LEA data
- Generate the SMAA Invoice
- Submit detailed quarterly invoices to DHCS on behalf of the LEA
- Review the operational plan for quality assurance and compliance
- Monitor compliance of LEA with all Federal, State, and DHCS program requirements
- Represent LEAs at State-level meetings
- Represent LEAs during State and Federal audits
- Maintain LEC audit binder
Who can claim as participants in my district?
- There are various positions in your district who provide SMAA-related activity as part of their regular duties that can participate in SMAA. Some examples include, but are not limited to: Psychologists, School Nurses, Credentialed Counselors, Principals, Special Education Professionals, Audiologists, Speech Pathologists, and many more. These participants can claim SMAA as long as they are not fully Federally funded.
About Random Moment Time Survey (RMTS)
Moment Generation
Prior to the start of the survey quarter, LEAs must enter and certify their academic calendars into the RMTS system software platform. LEAs are also responsible for compiling their Time Study Participant (TSP) list to upload and certify in the RMTS system software platform. Once the calendars and TSP lists are reviewed and approved by DHCS, the LEC will generate a total of 5,522 random moments, (2,761 from each cost pool). LEAs and participants will be notified one student attendance day in advance prior to their assigned moment.
Survey Process
RMTS first started on January 1, 2015, for 2014-2015, Quarter 3. Participants are randomly selected and assigned a random one-minute moment. Once the moment has occurred, the participant must record their activity for their moment by answering the following three questions:
- Who were you with?
- What were you doing?
- Why were you performing this activity?
Once submitted, this information will be sent to the LEC’s central coding staff where the activities will be analyzed and coded using the 18 SMAA codes.
SMAA Random Moment Time Survey (RMTS)
SMAA Reimbursement
LEAs must submit an invoice to receive reimbursement for SMAA activities. Reimbursement is based on the following variables:
- RMTS results
- LEA’s participant pool – salary and benefits
- LEA’s indirect cost rate
- Percentage of LEA’s Medi-Cal eligibility rate
Invoice Generation
- LEA participates in quarterly RMTS – results are shared by all LEAs in the region
- LEA provides fiscal data and other pertinent information for invoice preparation-upload to secure system
- LEA certifies data and signs off on invoice
- Invoice is submitted to LACOE for review and approval
- LACOE submits invoice on behalf of LEA for DHCS approval
SMAA DOCUMENTS & FORMS
CONNECT WITH US
School-Based Medi-Cal Administrative Activities
Jessica Jacobs
Business Advisory Services Coordinator
(562) 922-6521
Jacobs_Jessica@lacoe.edu
Esmeralda Mendez
Business Advisory Services Manager
(562) 940-1625
Mendez_Esmeralda@lacoe.edu
