December 4, 2020

Settlement notices are issued to inform districts that all HHSC reviews have been completed, any adjustments made are now available for review that a settlement amount has been In anticipation of the Settlement notifications going out on December 4th, Fairbanks and HHSC are sending out emails with training notification for those districts that may need a refresher on the Informal Review process. calculated and is being proposed to the district.

Step 8 of the SHARS Cost Report is activated once settlement notices are issued.  As stated in the settlement notice, districts must log into STAIRS within 30 days of the date of the notice to “Agree” or “Disagree” with the proposed settlement.

Step 8 consists of 3 parts:
1. Settlement Notice
2. Adjustment Report
3. Agree/Disagree Entry

Once the district’s response has been entered it will receive a confirmation notice that includes instructions on how to proceed. The instructions will vary depending on the district’s response.

• After the reconciliation period has expired, HHSC will process the payout or recoupment calculated for districts that Agree with their proposed settlement.
• Cost reports that are “Disagreed” to are withheld from payment until an informal review determination has been issued.
• If no response is received from a district within the allotted time frame, the cost reporting system will agree with the settlement amount by default.

If a district does not submit an informal review request, no action will be taken as a result of its “Disagree” response. A “Disagree” response reflects a disagreement with the contained data. It is not an opportunity to submit additional claims material. The Informal Review period for the 2018 – 2019 Cost Report will begin on December 4, 2020.  Upon receipt of a district’s informal review request, HHSC will review the documents submitted and will determine the appropriate course of action.

To assist districts in properly submitting Informal Review requests, HHSC SHARS posted training material on the SHARS webpage.  Click on this link SHARS Informal Review Information Session Training Slides to access the training information surrounding Informal Reviews.

For questions, please call the SHARS helpline at (512) 730-7400 or email us at ra_shars@hhsc.state.tx.us.

For help with STAIRS, contact the Fairbanks Information Center at 888-321-1225 or info@fairbanksllc.com.

For Cost Report support from Onward, contact our Finance team at finance@onwardlearning.com or you may reach out to our Director of Finance, Aprel Dobson at aprel@onwardlearning.com.