UDS Table 4: Income as a Percentage of Poverty Guideline

 

There is a practice setting related to the Income as Percentage of Poverty Guideline reporting is the Population Demographics – Federal Poverty Level Fields.   This setting allows the health center to indicate if family size and income data or percentage range is required at check-in, not required or always required.  This setting also allows the practice to set to Exact, allowing family size and income fields to be visible or set to Range, allowing the percentages to be visible, e.g. 101-150% on Quickview, Full Registration and check-in.

 

This practice settings will determine if staff or the patient can proceed with registration or check-in without collecting the family size and income information necessary for the calculation and accurate Table 4 Income as Percent of Poverty Guideline reporting according to UDS reporting requirements.

 

If you would like to review or discuss your health center’s practice settings, please contact the CSC by selecting Support > Create Case or Call in the Main Menu or reach out to your CSM.

 

To capture the information for UDS Table 4 Income as Percentage of Poverty reporting in athenaCollector + athenaClinicals, the fields are located in the Financial section of Quickview, the Financial section during check-in, or the Demographics section of Full Registration.  These fields allow you to add, delete, or edit and save changes to family size and income or ranges which will create a time stamp used in the calculation of Income as Percentage of Poverty Guideline.  Patients who decline to provide either family size or income information can also have their declination documented in Quickview, Full Registration or during the check-in process.

 

Income as a percentage of poverty guideline will be calculated using the program year Federal Poverty Guidelines using the patient’s “State”, “Family Size” and “Income” fields data entered into Quickview, Full Registration or during check-in.  For health centers using any “Range” practice setting, the income level range will be available to select under the “Income Level” dropdown in Quickview, Full Registration or during check-in.  Any patients who have declined to provide either family size or income information or patients who have no family size, income or range information saved via Quickview, Full Registration or during check-in will appear under line 5 “Unknown” in Table 4.

 

Important: Table 4 UDS reporting should include the most current income data for all patients (not only from patients eligible for a sliding fee discount), which must have been collected at or within 12 months of the last calendar year visit¹.

 

If data for state, family size, income or income level is left blank or if the data is unchanged from the previous 12-month period in Quickview, Full Registration or during check-in, the patient will be reported on Line 5 “Unknown”.  Family size, income or income level data must be added or edited and then saved to allow for an accurate calculation and reporting of Income as Percentage of Poverty Guideline for the current UDS program year. Declination by the patient or guarantor to provide either family size or income information should be documented by adding a checkmark to the Patient Declined box and the patient will be accurately reported to the “Unknown” on Line 5 of Table 4.  For patients whose family size and income has not changed from the previous 12-month period, the family size, income, or income level range must be cleared out, saved, re-entered and re-saved for accurate Income as Percentage of Poverty Guideline reporting.

 

Refer to the When Data Remains Unchanged Within section for detailed instructions.

 

Below are images where the Family Size, Income, and Income Level fields are located in Quickview, Full Registration, and during Check-in:

• Quickview or check-in, Financial section (“Exact” practice setting)
  

• Quickview or check-in, Financial section (“Range” practice setting)
  

• Full Registration, Demographics section (“Exact” practice setting)
  

• Full Registration, Demographics section (“Range” practice setting)
  

 

To ensure accurate Table 4 reporting and compliance with the UDS manual requirements, income data must be collected at or within 12 months of the last calendar year visit and documented through Quickview, Full Registration or during check-in.

 

Refer to the program year UDS manual for information regarding acceptability of self-declaration of income in Table 4 and consistency with the health center’s board-approved policies and procedures for collecting this data.

 

 

 

 

 

When the data in the family size and income (“Exact” practice setting) remains unchanged, the data needs to have an updated timestamp in the backend database table to accurately calculate Income as Percentage of Poverty Guideline on UDS Table 4.

 

To update the timestamp in the database table, either the family size or income field needs to be cleared out and the Save button clicked. The information will need to then be re-entered and the Save button clicked again to create a new timestamp for the accurate calculation of Income as Percentage of Poverty Guideline on UDS Table 4.

 

1. Clear out either family size or income and click Save (Family size example shown).
   
   

2. Enter the same value and click Save.
   
   

 

When the income level (“Range” practice setting) remains unchanged, the data needs to have an updated timestamp in the backend database table to accurately calculate Income as Percentage of Poverty Guideline on UDS Table 4.

 

To update the timestamp in the database table, the income level field needs to be cleared out and the Save button clicked. The income level will need to then be re-selected and the Save button clicked again to create a new timestamp for the accurate calculation of Income as Percentage of Poverty Guideline on UDS Table 4.

 

1. Clear out income level and click Save.
   
   

2. Select same income level and click Save.