Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 9, September 1, 2024
(1) The following
definitions apply to the rules governing child care rates:
(a) Infant: For all providers other than
licensed (registered or certified) care, a child aged newborn to 1 year. For
licensed care, an infant is a child aged newborn to 2 years.
(b) Toddler: For all providers other than
licensed (registered or certified) care, a child aged 1 year to 3 years. For
licensed care, a toddler is a child aged 2 years to 3 years.
(c) Preschool: A child aged 3 years to 6
years.
(d) School: A child aged 6
years or older.
(e) Special Needs:
A child who meets the age requirement of the program and who requires a level
of care over and above the norm for their age due to a physical, behavioral, or
mental disability. The disability must be verified by one of the following:
(A) A physician, nurse practitioner, clinical
social worker, or any additional sources in OAR 414-175-0024.
(B) Eligibility for Early Intervention and
Early Childhood Special Education Programs, or school-age Special Education
Programs.
(C) Eligibility for
SSI.
(2) The
following definitions apply to the types of care specified in the child care
rate charts in subsections (4)(a) through (4)(c) of this rule:
(a) The Standard Family Rate applies to child
care provided in the provider's own home or in the home of the child when the
provider does not qualify for the enhanced rate allowed by subsection (b) of
this section.
(b) The Enhanced
Family Rate applies to child care provided in the provider's own home or in the
home of the child when the provider meets the training requirements of the
Oregon Registry, established by the Oregon Center for Career Development in
Childhood Care and Education.
(c)
The Registered Family Rate applies to child care provided in the provider's own
home when the provider meets criteria established by the Child Care Licensing
Division.
(d) The Certified Family
Rate applies to child care provided in a residential dwelling that is certified
by the Child Care Licensing Division as a Certified Family Home. To earn this
designation, the facility must be inspected, and both provider and facility are
required to meet certain standards not required of a registered family
provider.
(e) The Standard Center
Rate applies to child care provided in a facility that is not located in a
residential dwelling and is exempt from Child Care Licensing Division
Certification rules.
(f) The
Enhanced Center Rate applies to child care provided in an exempt center whose
staff meet the training requirements of the Oregon Registry established by the
Oregon Center for Career Development in Childhood Care and Education.
Eligibility to receive the enhanced center rate for care provided in an exempt
center is subject to the following requirements:
(A) A minimum of one staff member for every
20 children in care must meet the Oregon Registry training requirements noted
in subsection (b) of this section.
(B) New staff must meet the Oregon Registry
training requirements within 90 days of hire, if necessary to maintain the
trained staff-to-children ratio described in paragraph (f)(i) of this
subsection.
(C) There must be at
least one person present where care is provided who has a current certificate
in infant and child CPR and a current American Red Cross First Aid card or an
equivalent.
(g) An
enhanced rate will become effective not later than the second month following
the month in which the Department receives verification that the provider has
met the requirements of subsection (b) or (f) of this section.
(h) The Certified Center Rate applies to
child care provided in a center that is certified by the Child Care Licensing
Division or participating in the Alternative Pathway program through the Child
Care Licensing Division.
(3) The following provisions apply to child
care payments:
(a) Providers not eligible for
the enhanced or licensed rate will be paid at an hourly rate for children in
care less than 158 hours per month subject to the maximum full-time monthly
rate.
(b) Providers eligible for
the enhanced or licensed rate will be paid at an hourly rate for children in
care less than 136 hours a month, unless the provider customarily bills all
families at a part-time monthly rate subject to the maximum full-time monthly
rate and is designated as the primary provider for the case.
(c) At their request, providers eligible for
the enhanced or licensed rate may be paid at the part-time monthly rate if they
provide 63 or more hours of care in the month, customarily bill all families at
a part-time monthly rate, and are designated as the primary provider for the
case.
(d) Unless required by the
circumstances of the caretaker or child, the Department will not pay for care
at a part-time monthly or a full-time monthly rate to more than one provider
for the same child for the same month.
(e) The Department will pay at the hourly
rate for less than 63 hours of care in the month subject to the maximum
full-time monthly rate.
(f) The
Department will pay for absent days each month the child is absent. Absent days
can be billed if:
(A) It is the provider's
policy to bill all families for absent days; and
(B) The child was scheduled to be in care,
the provider bills for the amount of time the child was scheduled to be in
care, and the child has not been absent for a calendar month.
(g) Child care providers are
eligible to receive an incentive payment upon achieving and maintaining a three
star or higher rating with the Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS), or
SPARK program, subject to all of the following provisions.
(A) The incentive payment is in addition to
the Department maximum rate.
(B) A
provider may receive an incentive payment for any ERDC child that the
Department paid the provider for full-time care (136 hours or more).
(C) Providers who are contracted for child
care services through the ERDC program are not eligible to receive incentive
payments, with the exception of Early Head Start providers.
(D) Eligibility for the incentive payment is
effective the month after the QRIS rating has been achieved.
(E) The incentive payment amount is based on
the provider's star QRIS rating as follows:
(i) Star Rating ... ... ... ... ...
....Amount
(ii) 3 ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...$54
(iii) 4 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ...$72
(iv) 5 ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...$90
(h) Child care providers eligible for the
licensed rate may receive payment from the Department for registration and
other fees if they are required by the facility for a child to begin or
continue care and the fees are also required of the general public. Fees
related to penalties, fines, charges exceeding approved ERDC hours or rates
(see section (4) of this rule), or advance payment for cost of care are not
eligible for payment.
(i) Child
care providers are eligible to receive an additional payment from the
Department of 9% of the payment issued for a billing form when all the
following are met:
(A) A home-based provider's
billing form was processed more than 4 business days after the completed
billing form was received by the Department or a center-based provider's
billing form was processed more than 7 business days after the completed
billing form was received by the Department,
(B) The provider initiated the request for
the additional payment within 30 calendar days of the payment being
processed,
(C) Providers request
the additional payment using the Department's request process, and
(D) The payment was processed outside the
timeframe indicated in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph (i) under
circumstances other than exceptional circumstances. "Exceptional circumstances"
means circumstances beyond the reasonable control of the Department including:
(i) State declared natural
disaster,
(ii) System outages or
failure that prevents payment issuance, or
(iv) A cause that originated outside the
Department that the Department could not prevent.
(4) Effective January 1,
2024, the following are the child care rates based on the type of provider, the
location of the provider (shown by zip code), the age of the child, and the
type of billing used (hourly or monthly):
(a)
[see attached table]
(b) [see
attached table]
(c) [see attached
table]
(5) OAR
414-175-0050 establishes ERDC allowable child care cost, and the copay
calculation, except for child care under a contract between a Head Start agency
and the Department, which is covered under OAR 414-175-0105.
(6) Subject to the provisions in section (9)
of this rule, the monthly limit for each child's child care payments is the
lesser of the amount charged by the provider or providers and the following
amounts:
(a) The monthly rate provided in
section (4) of this rule.
(b) The
product of the hours of care, limited by section (8) of this rule, multiplied
by the hourly rate provided in section (4) of this rule.
(7) The limit in any month for child care
payments on behalf of a child whose caretaker is away from the child's home for
more than 30 days because the caretaker is a member of a reserve or National
Guard unit that is called up for active duty is the lesser of the following:
(a) The amount billed by the provider or
providers.
(b) The monthly rate
established in this rule for 215 hours of care.
(8) The number of payable billed hours of
care for a child is limited as follows:
(a)
The total payable hours of care in a month may not exceed the amounts in
paragraphs (a)(A) or (B) of this subsection:
(A) 125 percent of the number of child care
hours authorized under OAR 414-175-0050; or
(B) The monthly rate established in section
(4) of this rule multiplied by a factor of not more than 1.5, determined by
dividing the number of hours billed by 215, when the caretaker meets the
criteria for extra hours under section (10) of this rule.
(b) For a caretaker who earns less than the
Oregon minimum wage, the total may not exceed 125 percent of the anticipated
earnings divided by the state minimum wage not to exceed 172 hours (which is
full time).
(9) The limit
in any month for child care payments on behalf of a child whose caretaker has
special circumstances, defined in section (10) of this rule, is the lesser of
one of the following:
(a) The amount billed by
the provider or providers; or
(b)
The monthly rate established in section (4) of this rule multiplied by a
factor, of not more than 1.5, determined by dividing the number of hours billed
by 215.
(10) The limit
allowed by section (9) of this rule is authorized once the Department has
determined the caretaker has special circumstances. For the purposes of this
section, a caretaker has special circumstances when it is necessary for the
caretaker to obtain child care in excess of 215 hours in a month to perform the
requirements of their employment or training required to keep current
employment, not including self-employment. This is limited to the following
situations:
(a) The commute time to and from
work or education settings exceeds two hours per day.
(b) The caretaker has an overnight shift and
care is necessary for both shift hours and sleep hours.
(c) Retroactively effective January 1, 2023,
multiple caretakers need care for both shift hours and sleep hours when:
(A) There is overlap in the caretakers'
reported hours, and
(B) At least
one caretaker works an overnight shift.
(d) The caretaker has a split shift and it is
not feasible to care for the child between shifts.
(e) The caretaker consistently works,
participates in education hours, or both, more than 40 hours per
week.
(11) The payment
available for care of a child who meets the special needs criteria described in
section (1)(e) of this rule is increased in accordance with OAR 414-175-0076 if
the requirements of both of the following subsections are met:
(a) The child requires significantly more
direct supervision by the child care provider than normal for a child of the
same age.
(b) The child is enrolled
in a local school district Early Intervention or Early Childhood Special
Education program or school-age Special Education Program. The enrollment
required by this subsection is waived if determined inappropriate by a
physician, nurse practitioner, licensed or certified psychologist, clinical
social worker, or school district official.
(12) Provider payment rates are informed by a
cost estimation model and may include financial incentives as outlined in ORS
329A.500(4)(c)(A)-(G).
To view attachments referenced in rule text,
click here to view
rule.
Statutory/Other Authority: ORS
329A.500
Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS
329A.500
