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Expected to Work/Barriers to Full Employment Policy & Procedures

Published Date: June 28, 2019
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15 Administrative Procedures

Duplicate Persons

Definition

A person is duplicated on the system when two person profiles and two Person Identifiers (PID) exist for that person. Duplicate persons are created when:

  • A client is only able to provide limited information and the worker is unable to perform a thorough person search.

     

  • A client unintentionally gives incorrect or incomplete information.

     

  • A client intentionally provides false or misleading information for the purpose of obtaining IS benefits fraudulently.

     

  • A worker does not perform a complete person search even though the information is available to do so.

     

  • A worker does not review or ignores the Central Client Directory (CCD) Duplicate Person screen prior to adding a new person.

     

  • A worker enters information incorrectly.

     

  • A worker previously entered incomplete or incorrect information and the next worker performs an incomplete search (e.g., Worker A registers Barb and Worker B only searches Barbara instead of using a partial given name).


Rationale

Whenever a worker adds a person or updates the Person Profile on CCD, the system compares the updated (“new”) information to all other persons on CCD. If any one of the following matches occurs, the system will warn the worker that there is a possible duplicate person:

  • If new SIN matches SIN already on the system.
  • If new Personal Health Number (PHN) matches PHN already on the system.
  • If surname and given initial, birthdate, and gender all match for some other person.


Workers must make every effort to avoid creating duplicate persons because:

  • A client can only have one PID and
  • Duplicate assistance may occur if a client has two PIDs.


If duplicate persons are created, the responsible Service Centre staff:

  • Correct the information if the persons are different persons or
  • Request Service Alberta's Office of the Corporate Chief Information Officer (OCCIO) CCD staff merge the PIDs if the persons are the same person and
  • If the persons are the same person, review the files to determine if an overpayment has occurred or if a fraud referral is required.


How to Avoid Creating Duplicate Persons

  1. Enter information onto CCD directly from personal identification documents. If the client has a SIN card, view the card and begin the person search by entering the number directly from the SIN card.

     

  2. If the search by SIN does not indicate a duplicate, but the client states they have received assistance in the past, the worker searches by surname, given initial, birthdate, gender, and aliases. The LISA User Guide, Chapter 5 - Client Registration CCD, has information on techniques for person search.

     

  3. When the Central Client Directory Duplicate Person screen appears ensure the message is thoroughly reviewed prior to the creation of another person.

Note
If a worker recognizes a New Person Registration as a duplicate:

  • before the file number is generated or the new person was added to LISA and
  • before transmission to CCD

the worker should still request a PID Merge

Identifying Duplicate Persons
Duplicate persons may be identified in a variety of ways:

  • The workers may encounter a duplicate while doing a person search

     

  • The CEC (or other similarly delegated position) may encounter a duplicate while doing an intake

     

  • The worker may receive a SCCP 2490-01 Duplicates Identified By Daily Upload report

     

  • OCCIO CCD staff may become aware of a duplicate through exception reports including the monthly SCCP 2210-01 Duplicate Identification - SIN and AHCIP which is a provincial report

     

  • Fraud staff may become aware of a duplicate as a result of a report from the community or investigation


Service Centre staff are responsible to take action to assist in correcting duplicates they have identified or they have been made aware of by the SCCP 2490-01 Duplicates Identified By Daily Upload report, OCCIO CCD staff or Fraud staff.

SCCP 2490-01 Duplicates Identified By Daily Upload
The SCCP 2490-01 Duplicates Identified By Daily Upload is a CCD report which is generated whenever a LISA update to person information causes one person to match another person. The report is received at the Service Centre the day after the change is made. The IT Site Contact gives the report to the worker responsible for the file which has the most recent change.

Correcting Duplicates
Workers take the following steps if they receive a SCCP 2490-01 Duplicates Identified By Daily Upload report. These steps are also followed by workers who are assigned, by the Supervisor, to correct a duplicate which has been identified by other means.

Note
In most cases, a match occurs on two persons. However, in some cases, more than two persons may be identified as duplicates. If this happens, the worker follows these steps for all of the identified duplicates.

  1. Review the file and the personal ID of their client to determine if an error was made and the persons are different persons. If they are different persons, the worker makes any necessary corrections on the LISA database. This will cause the correction to transmit to CCD and thereby correct the duplicate.

     

  2. If the worker is unable to determine if an error was made or whether the persons are the same person, the worker:

     

    • Reviews the file of the matching client, if the file is active on their caseload or closed in their Service Centre, or

       

    • Contacts the worker for the matching client, if the file is active, and asks that worker to review their file, or

       

    • Requests the file from storage if the file is closed more than two years and reviews the file, or

       

    • Follows step 5 if the file is closed in another Service Centre.

     

  3. If one of the workers determines an error was made, the worker with the incorrect information makes any necessary corrections on LISA. The correct LISA information transmits to CCD and corrects the duplicate.

     

  4. If, after reviewing the personal ID on both files, the workers determine the persons are the same person, the workers:

     

    • Make a Note in Mobius on their respective files they believe the persons are the same person and why they believe this.
    • Advise the Site Contact to notify the OCCIO CCD staff that a PID merge is required in CCD, including the following information for both the valid and invalid files: name, PID, DOB, SIN, Alberta Health Care Number (PHN) and Aliases
      • It is the site staff’s responsibility  to ensure the appropriate documentation is on each client file.  OCCIO CCD staff are not responsible for determining that these are duplicates, but will question the Site Contact if they have any concerns about the information provided. 
      • The Site Contact sends Forward merge requests to the OCCIO CCD staff  Information about how to submit a PID Merge is located on the Intranet
        If the matching client’s file is closed in another Service Centre, the worker:
    • Makes a Note in Mobius that the matching client’s file is not accessible and proceeds to the next step.

      Note
      If both persons are active on a file and they are clearly the same person, benefits are only issued on one file.

      PID Merge and Files
      OCCIO CCD staff merge PIDs when duplicates are determined to be the same person.

      Once the PIDs have been merged, OCCIO CCD staff send the appropriate Service Centre a memo to advise the PIDs are merged. The memo is filed on section 4 of the client file Documents in Imaging will need to be manually updated by a Supervisor.  Each document in Imaging will need it’s Metadata updated to the correct PID.

      If the person was Head of Household on one file and spouse on another:
      • The workers review the files to determine if an overpayment or if fraud has occurred.
      • The worker with the active file calculates an overpayment or makes a fraud referral.
      • If the person was Head of Household on both files, the worker:
      • Requests the file for the invalid file.
      • If any part of an invalid file is closed more than two years the worker retrieves the file by requesting a permanent withdrawal. The purpose of recalling these files and merging them with the valid file is to ensure that only one file exists for the same client.
      • Reviews the files to determine if an overpayment has occurred or if fraud has occurred
      • If an overpayment has occurred:

        1. The worker enters the debt in the Recoveries system.

        2. The AS staff chronologically merge the valid and invalid files according to Records Management standards.

        3. The AS staff indicate on the NCN0787H Client File Label or EMP 355b File Label in the Cross References section of all volumes, the file is a Merged Duplicate and record the name and file number of the person who was merged onto the file.


If fraud is suspected:

  • The worker makes a referral to Investigation and Review.
  • The AS staff do not merge the files but store the intact invalid file with the valid file in one file.
  • The AS staff indicate on the NCN0787H Client File Label or EMP 355b File Label on both files in the Cross Reference section of all volumes, the file is a Duplicate Under Investigation and record the name and file number of the duplicate person.
  • When the Investigator advises the worker that the investigation is completed, the worker gives the files to the AS staff whom chronologically merge the valid and invalid files according to Records Management standards.
  • The AS staff indicate on the NCN0787H Client File Label or EMP 355b File Label in the Cross Reference section of all volumes, the file is a Merged Duplicate and record the name and file number of the person who was merged onto the file.