1. Mark Davis Missouri WIC Customer Service Manager (MIS/EBT) 2012 Missouri WIC Conference

2.  After session you will have understanding of:  WIC EBT definition  WIC EBT background  EBT basics  Online and smart card  Missouri decision  Implications for local agencies and participants  Implications for WIC-authorized vendors  Next steps  Questions 2

3.  WIC Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) is an electronic method of providing WIC food benefits to participants  An EBT card (similar to debit or credit card) is issued to the household, instead of issuing WIC checks to each participant  Local agencies will still use MOWINS; changes will be made to the benefits issuance component 3

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6.  Missouri planning activities  Planning contractor, 2010-2012  Learned as much as possible about EBT  Visited other WIC states already doing EBT  Meetings and survey with WIC-authorized vendors  Meetings and survey with local agencies  Attended EBT user group and other meetings 6

7.  One card for entire household- benefits are aggregated for household  Cardholder uses PIN instead of signing checks  Can redeem WIC foods anytime during the benefit period- no constraint of individual checks  No change to issuance periods, e.g. tri-monthly, bi-monthly, etc  Cardholder receives print out of available foods at cert/recert and with every purchase 7

8.  At WIC authorized vendor- EBT system determines if food is WIC-approved  Vendor staff are no longer the food police  Every WIC food has a UPC or PLU that is in our Approved Product List (APL)  Vendor receives APL electronically and EBT system compares the UPC of food against the APL 8

9.  State must make two major decisions  Online or smart card  Online, magnetic stripe  Smart card, offline  EBT host- Outsource or in-house 9

10.  EBT card is similar to debit or credit card  User “swipes” the card  Real time transactions to EBT host  Vendor must have telecommunication line to connect to EBT host for each transaction  In most cases, vendor pays transaction fee  State must have a plan for when telecommunication line is down 10

11.  Similar to debit or credit card, except that it has a computer chip embedded  User inserts the card and leaves it until prompted to remove it- does not “swipe” it  The food benefits are stored on the card- the card is the database of record  No telecommunication line is needed at time of purchase 11

12.  We decided to use the Smart Card and outsource EBT hosting  We decided this after much discussion and doing the activities noted in slide # 6  Main reasons  Cost of online would be more, especially for full service Automatic Voice Response (AVR) for pin changes and benefit updates  U.S. banking industry appears to be moving to smart card, as the rest of world has done  Procedure of participants contacting agency for issues related to check/card would not change as much with smart card 12

13.  MOWINS will be changed to issue smart card instead of checks  Relatively minor change to system for users  Local agencies will receive training, may be able to do it by webinar  Cardholder will go to local agency to have PIN assigned initially and when they want to change PIN  Cardholder will go to card reader at agency or vendor if they have lost their latest food print out 13

14.  New equipment  Smart card reader- USB, small and light  No power cord; there is a driver to install  Used to put participant information on card  Load benefits on card instead of printing checks  Participant uses it to assign PIN  No MICR printers for checks  Local agency will need a printer to print the food list 14

15.  Participants will need to be trained in new procedures  DVD from Texas  Reinforcement by LWP staff  Surveys from EBT states show participants love EBT  Much more information available on foods participants redeem  Policy changes  Proxy  Lost and stolen wait time- Hot Card List (HCL)  May switch from rolling month to calendar month 15

16.  Smartphone applications  Working to have vendor and local agency locations as a Smartphone app  Also want to create an app that shows which foods are WIC foods  May also be able to have WIC appointments and other information available as Smartphone app  QR Code/Reader- can be inserted in publications, linked to designated web site 16

17.  Time in lane is much faster with EBT  Much less chance for cashier error  No transaction fees  Receive payment from state faster  Need smart card reader at all WIC lanes- some are already doing this  Must inform state of UPC, PLU changes  Will send claim file daily and receive three files 17

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19.  Implementation Advance Planning Document  Interface- MOWINS and EBT host  Funding  Hire implementation and quality assurance contractors- will host EBT  Card and folder design  DVD for participants  Policy changes and vendor participation agreement changes 19

20.  Creation of UPC and PLU database  Certification of WIC-authorized vendors  Training for vendors and local agencies  Select pilot and determine implementation plan  Timeline- if all goes well- may have pilot in place as soon as late 2014 20

21.  Participants and vendors like EBT (smart card and online)  Faster through lane  Cashiers are not food police  Less stigma for participant  Participant will receive initial food list at local agency and receipt after they go to store  For local agencies, cards are generally faster to issue than checks  One card for household (keep same card as long as they are on WIC) instead of many checks 21

22.  For local agencies changes include:  Use card reader to load benefits- printer used to print food list  Learn changes to MOWINS  Changes to policies  Instruction to participants on how to use card- reinforce information in DVD 22

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