12/06/2024
Summary
- The Pediatric RISE Guaranteed Income Pilot is offered to families enrolling in a multi-center clinical drug trial for High-Risk Neuroblastoma (HR NBL) with the Children's Oncology Group NBL. This manual release provides guidance on how the income received from the pilot program will affect eligibility for all programs.
- A total of 84 families in ten centers across the United States will be selected to participate and receive a cash payment from $1,200 up to $2,000 per month for 6 months based on family household size.
- Eligible families must have a parent/guardian who has screened positive for self-reported low-income at less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL).
- 100% of the funding for the financial support comes from a private philanthropic donation through the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
- Money received from the Pediatric RISE Guaranteed Income Pilot will be considered exempt unearned income for food, cash, and medical eligibility for programs which utilize MAGI budgeting methodology. This payment is considered non-exempt unearned income for AABD Medical and other non-MAGI Medical programs.
- Payment issuances began in November 2024.
Pediatric RISE Guaranteed Income Pilot
Pediatric RISE is a new supportive care intervention for childhood cancer developed to address the recent discovery that children with High-Risk Neuroblastoma (HR NBL) who live in poverty are twice as likely to relapse and die from cancer, even if they are treated on a clinical trial. Pediatric RISE provides unrestricted financial support for 6 months to families who have a child receiving chemotherapy for newly diagnosed cancer with a self-reported household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to increase the financial stability of these families during their child's cancer treatment. This manual release provides guidance on how the income received from this pilot program will affect eligibility for all programs.
Participation and Eligibility
- Pediatric RISE in High-Risk Neuroblastoma will enroll children with cancer from October 2024 - March 2028. Enrollment will be completed on a rolling basis as children are newly diagnosed with cancer.
- It will take approximately four years to complete enrollment due to the small number of children with neuroblastoma diagnosed each year in the United States. Participation in Pediatric RISE will be offered to families receiving standard of care chemotherapy for HR NBL, as well as those receiving chemotherapy as part of a Children's Oncology Group multicenter clinical drug trial.
- Families must have a parent/guardian who has screened positive for self-reported low-income at less than 200% of the Federal Poverty Line. Pediatric RISE will enroll 84 families across ten U.S. centers over four years with anticipated start date of October 2024.
- Half of enrolled families (42) will be randomized to receive unrestricted financial payments for the first six months of their child's chemotherapy treatment (i.e., the "intervention arm" of the study), with the amount depending upon the number of children living in the household and totaling no more than $12,000 over six months for any participant.
Payment Issuance
Families who are selected to Pediatric RISE will receive standardized financial support based on the number of dependent children in the household under 18 years of age. Families will receive financial support for a total of 6 months. Payment issuances began in November 2024. The following provides the monthly financial benefit each eligible household will receive:
|
Number of Dependent
Children
|
Monthly Cash
payment
|
Total Cash Payment
in 6-month Period
|
| 1 or 2 dependents |
$1,200 |
$7,200 |
| 3 or 4 dependents |
$1,600 |
$9,600 |
| 5 or more dependents |
$2,000 |
$12,000 |
Cash/Food/Medical
Verification of the exempt income is required, if questionable, when determining eligibility for cash, food, and medical programs. The monthly payments received from the pilot are considered exempt unearned income for the purposes of determining cash, food, and medical eligibility for programs which utilize MAGI budgeting methodology. This payment is considered non-exempt unearned income for AABD Medical and other non-MAGI Medical programs.
IES
When entering income received from the Pediatric Rise Guaranteed Income Pilot in IES, workers should enter the income based on the programs selected when processing an application or changes to an existing case. Workers should process as follows:
- Applications with Cash, Food and/or MAGI Medical, select Other Exempt as the unearned income type on the Unearned Income-Details page.
- Applications for AABD Medical only, select Other Unearned as the income type on the Unearned Income-Details page.
- Applications with Cash and/or SNAP containing Medical programs using AABD budgeting may require contact with the Bureau of Medical Eligibility Policy and Special Programs (BMESP) for specific instructions, HFS.Eligibility.Policy@illinois.gov.
- Document in Case Comments the type of unearned income received and if it was exempt or non-exempt for each program.
Manual Revisions
[signed copy on file]
Dulce Quintero
Secretary-Designate, Illinois Department of Human Services
Elizabeth Whitehorn
Director, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services
