Provider Claim Documentation and Reconciliation

This Instruction establishes Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) policy governing the monthly reconciliation of claims submitted by family day care home providers to sponsoring organizations.

Under Section 226.15(e) of the CACFP regulations, sponsoring organizations are required to collect and maintain among other things "Documentation of the enrollment of each child at day care homes...," as well as "Daily records indicating the number of children in attendance and the number of meals, by type (breakfast, lunch, supper, and supplements) served to enrolled children," These records play a particularly significant role in the operation of the CACFP since they are used to support the sponsoring organization's claims for reimbursement. In light of the foregoing, certain requirements and responsibilities are appropriate under the regulations cited.

First, sponsoring organizations are responsible for ensuring that providers are maintaining current enrollment documents. Second, in order to further provide some basic assurance of the integrity of claims for reimbursement, sponsoring organizations are responsible for comparing information contained on enrollment documents with that provided by each home relative to daily attendance and numbers of meals served on a monthly basis. Finally, family day care home providers are required to certify that the information they submit covering attendance and meals counts is accurate.

State agencies shall develop appropriate certification statements to be used by their sponsoring organizations. These certification statements shall, at minimum, require providers to attest that the information submitted is accurate in all respects; that it is given in connection with the receipt of Federal funds and that deliberate misrepresentation may result in state or federal prosecution.