Special Education Claims Tracking

LEA Third Party Medicaid Reimbursement Project

About Spectra

SPECTRA is a billing system used to track Medicaid eligible students with special health care needs that are Medicaid reimbursable and directly related to special education.

  • Local Education Agency, Special Education Bundled Billing, and Nursing Attendant Care
  • Early Childhood Intervention, Fee for Service Billing, Family Service Coordination, and Developmental Intervention
  • Head Start, Dental Services Billing

    P.L. 100-360 states that Medicaid reimbursement cannot be restricted or prohibited for covered services for a child with disabilities because the services are included in an IEP or IFSP.

Services Provided by SPECTRA Staff:

  • Presentations about Medicaid billing within the educational setting
  • Assistance with obtaining Medicaid provider numbers
  • Assistance with cost calculations for fee for service claims
  • Inservices for staff who will be involved with the billing process
  • Electronic student identification for eligibility
  • Provide information to parents
  • Medicaid billing done electronically to expedite reimbursement
  • All records kept for five years and assistance is provided with the auditing process
  • Technical assistance and problem solving

Reimbursable Activities:

The History of SPECTRA

  • SPECTRA originated in 1990 as one of two pilot projects for the State of Kansas to develop and implement a third party Medicaid billing program. To assist Special Education agencies to access available federal reimbursement for health related services the schools provides.
  • SPECTRA operates under P.L. 100-360 which states that Medicaid reimbursement cannot be restricted or prohibited for covered services for a child with disabilities because the services are included in an IEP or IFSP.
  • SPECTRA’S goal is to track the special education students who recieve reimbursable services and submit the information to Kansas Medicaid for reimbursement. SPECTRA continues to work with Kansas Medicaid to ensure that Local Education Agencies and Early Childhood Intervention Agencies have a voice in any Medicaid policy changes that will effect the reimbursement for the programs.
  • SPECTRA currently works with 56 Local Education Agencies , 20 Early Childhood Intervention Agencies, and 1 Regional Alcohol and Drug Assessment Center . Approximatly 12,000 students information is processed monthly from the SPECTRA office. SPECTRA provides technical assistance to all Local Education Agencies and Early Childhood Intervention Agencies in Kansas.

Spectra Staff Members:

For additional information about SPECTRA, contact Terri Pence, SPECTRA Coordinator, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center.