Thanks for the question. The State funding protocol you mentioned is no longer in place. It hasn't been for a few years. Because the FY18 grants can't be approved without a budget, even if that system was still in place, the Department can't provide advances because technically they don't have an approved budget or any authorized grants to work from.

You are correct that providers typically receive funds from a variety of sources. In some cases, state grants are a small portion of the overall funding the provider has to work with. In other cases, it accounts for nearly 100% of the funding (it depends largely on exactly what the provider does).

Providers are planning for contingencies right now. Some of these contingencies are frightening. Hopefully, we won't have to enact them.