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March/April 2024
March and April Payments
GEARS successfully generated payments for March 1st and April 1st. The associated reimbursement and payment reports were promptly reviewed and posted. The processing dates for the GEARS runs are 2024-02-21 for March 1st and 2024-03-21 for April 1st payments. Kindly refer to these dates when accessing the GEARS-603 and/or -620 reports.
Reminder About Off-Cycle GEARS Runs
Expenditures and adjustments processed in a GEARS off-cycle run will produce GEARS reports only for agencies that have updated expenditure or adjustment details.
Agencies that do not have any updated information in an off-cycle run but choose an off-cycle processing date will see just the report headers without any additional information
The regular monthly GEARS run dates can be found at GEARS Processing and Payment Schedule | Wisconsin Department of Health Services. This schedule is updated with a month’s regular processing date as soon as the GEARS team has reviewed and accepted that month’s run results.
So Long, Calendar Year 2023
The majority of contracts on GEARS are calendar year contracts, based on the contracted dollars. Currently, the GEARS Team and DHS accounting personnel are working on reconciling the funding and finalizing the closeout of the 2023 calendar year contracts. Although this process was tested before the transition from CARS to GEARS, this will be the first actual GEARS calendar year closeout.
Wow! A pause while we acknowledge how far we’ve come together!
Extra precautions are being taken to ensure a seamless and precise closeout for the calendar year 2023, and to prevent any interruptions to other 2024 payments. Some things you can do to help with this process:
- Reconcile your accounting records to the GEARS Expenditure reports submitted. Ideally, agencies have been doing this on a monthly basis or at least on a quarterly basis, as required in the grant agreements.
- Verify expenditures reported were properly processed and paid by reviewing your agency’s CARS and GEARS-603 and/or -620 reports. Remember that GEARS includes all calendar year 2023 information regardless of whether actual payments were made via the CARS or GEARS processes.
- Submit any necessary final expenditures or adjustments to previously reported expenditures (increases or decreases) on your final GEARS Expenditure report form. Final report due dates are established in your agency’s grant agreement. Grant close-out periods by profile are listed on the 2023 Listing of CARS/GEARS Profile Close Out Dates which is available from a link near the bottom of the GEARS home page, Grant Enrollment, Application and Reporting System (GEARS) | Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Final reports are due no later than the last day of the grant close-out period.
- If you have questions or concerns, contact the GEARS team promptly at DHS600RCARS@dhs.wisconsin.gov using the subject line Agency #-Agency Type-Contract Year-FINAL-Report Month & Year-Agency Name
- Understand that the GEARS Team’s response may take a little longer than normal due to the increased number of expenditure reports and questions received during the calendar year close-out period.
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Those Final Reports with an End Date of 12/31/2023
Final reports for GEARS profiles with a contract end date of 12/31/2023 and with a:
- 45-day closeout period were due mid-February. Reports received on or before 2/15/2024 were included in the February GEARS regular run, processing date of 2024-02-21.
- 60-day closeout period were due at the end of February. Reports received timely were included in the March GEARS regular run, processing date of 2024-03-21.
- 90-day close-out period are due at the end of March and those received timely will be processed in April.
Final reports for the calendar year 2023 that are submitted on time and have not been previously processed will undergo standard processing in the April GEARS run. These reports will be included in the May 1st payment cycle. Furthermore, there may be special GEARS runs over the next three months to handle other closing adjustments.
It's important to note that although all agencies can view all expense processing dates, only those with expenses or adjustments processed during the special run will have details in the corresponding GEARS-603 or -620 reports.
We will stay in touch
As we move through our first closeout of GEARS calendar year contracts, we will send out targeted newsflashes to provide quick updates.
Goals
Our goal remains 100% of GEARS payments accurate and on time!
Please contact us at DHSDESBFSGEARS@dhs.wisconsin.gov with GEARS related questions or comments.
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