The providers participating in this program are essential and their challenges are real. These challenges range from facing multiple attendance verification audits throughout the year to delayed payments. Further, slow processing of CCS program applications affects the Maryland State Department of Education’s (MSDE’s) ability to provide timely reimbursement for the children that providers are serving each day. Payment issues are amplified by the length of time it takes for MSDE technical systems to issue payment. Receiving payment fifteen days after the start of a service period, at best, can put providers who often work payment to payment in a precarious situation at a time when we are trying to recover from a global pandemic and get Maryland back to work while ensuring that our children have the best possible care.
and then