"Above-50-percent vendor" means a vendor that
derives more than 50 percent of the vendor's annual food sales revenue from WIC
food instruments, and a new vendor applicant expected to meet this criterion
under guidelines approved by FNS.
"Applicant" means a pregnant woman,
breastfeeding woman, postpartum woman, an infant or a child who is applying to
receive WIC benefits and the breastfed infant(s) of an applicant breastfeeding
woman. "Applicant" includes an individual who is currently participating in the
program and who is reapplying because the individual's certification period is
about to expire.
"Authorized supplemental food" means
supplemental food authorized by the state or local agency for issuance to a
participant.
"Breastfeeding" means the practice of feeding
a mother's breast milk to her infant(s) on the average of at least once a
day.
"Breastfeeding woman" means a woman up to one
year postpartum who is breastfeeding her infant(s).
"Cash-value benefit" means a fixed-dollar
amount food instrument which is used by a participant to obtain authorized
fruits and vegetables.
"Categorical eligibility" means a person who
meets the definition of a pregnant woman, breastfeeding woman, postpartum
woman, or infant or child.
"Certification" means the implementation of
criteria and procedures to assess and document each applicant's eligibility for
the program.
"Chiefstate health officer" or
"director" means the director of the Iowa department of public
health.
"Child" means a person who has had his or her
first birthday but has not yet attained his or her fifth birthday.
"Clinic" means a facility where applicants
are certified.
"Competent professional authority" or
"CPA" means an individual on the staff of the contract agency
who, using standardized WIC screening tools and eligibility criteria provided
by the department, determines whether an applicant for WIC services is eligible
to receive those services. A CPA shall be a member of one of the following
categories:
1. A dietitian licensed by the Iowa board of dietetics;
2. A nutrition educator as defined in the Iowa WIC Policy and
Procedure Manual;
3. A physician, registered nurse or licensed physician
assistant.
"Compliance buy" means a covert, on-site
investigation in which a representative of the WIC program poses as a
participant, parent or caretaker of an infant or child participant, or proxy,
transacts one or more food instruments or cash-value benefits, and does not
reveal during the visit that he or she is a program representative.
"Contract agency" means a private, nonprofit
or public agency that has a contract with the department to provide WIC
services and receives funds from the department for that purpose.
"Conventional eggs" means eggs other than
specialty eggs.
"Department" means the Iowa department of
public health.
"Disqualification" means the act of ending
the WIC program participation of a participant, authorized food vendor, or
authorized state or local agency, whether as a punitive sanction or for
administrative reasons.
"Division director" means the director of the
division of health promotion and chronic disease prevention, Iowa department of
public health.
"Dual participation" means simultaneous
participation in the WIC program in one or more than one WIC clinic, or
participation in the WIC program and in the commodity supplemental food program
(CSFP) during the same period of time.
"ECR" means electronic cash register.
"Eggs" means shell eggs that are graded as
"AA," "A," or "B" pursuant to 7 CFR Part 56, Subpart A, and that are sold at
retail in commercial markets.
"eWIC" means functions related to the
electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card.
"Exempt infant formula" means an infant
formula that meets the requirements for an exempt infant formula under Section
412(h) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 350a(h)) and the
regulations at 21 CFR Parts 106 and 107.
"Family" means a group of related or
nonrelated individuals who are living together as one economic unit, except
that residents of a homeless facility or an institution shall not all be
considered as members of a single family.
"Fiscal year" means the period of 12 calendar
months beginning October 1 of any calendar year and ending September 30 of the
following calendar year.
"FNS" means the Food and Nutrition Service of
the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"Food instrument" means a voucher, check,
coupon, electronic benefits transfer (EBT-eWIC) card or any other document used
to obtain supplemental foods.
"Health professional" means an individual who
is licensed to provide health care or social services within the individual's
scope of practice.
"Health services" means ongoing, routine
pediatric and obstetric care (such as infant and child care and prenatal and
postpartum examinations) or referral for treatment.
"Hearing officer" means the contract agency
director, health professional, community leader or impartial citizen who is
designated to hear the appeal of a participant, and is not to be confused with
the statutory definition of a hearing officer, which is an administrative law
judge.
"Homeless facility" means the following types
of facilities which provide meal service: a supervised publicly or privately
operated shelter (including a welfare hotel or congregate shelter) designed to
provide temporary living accommodations; a facility that provides a temporary
residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or a public or
private place not designed for, or normally used as, a regular sleeping
accommodation for human beings.
"Homeless participant" means a woman, infant
or child:
1. Who lacks a fixed and regular nighttime residence; or
2. Whose primary nighttime residence is:
* A supervised publicly or privately operated shelter
(including a welfare hotel, a congregate shelter, or a shelter for victims of
domestic violence) designated to provide temporary living
accommodations;
* An institution that provides a temporary residence for
individuals intended to be institutionalized;
* A temporary accommodation of not more than 365 days in the
residence of another individual; or
* A public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily
used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
"Infant formula" means a food that meets the
definition of an infant formula in Section 201(z) of the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(z)) and that meets the requirements for an
infant formula under Section 412 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 350a) and the regulations at 21 CFR Parts 106 and 107.
"Infant" means a person under one year of
age.
"Iowa WIC Policy and Procedure Manual" means
all of the state WIC policies and procedures that describe the manner in which
the department implements and operates all aspects of program administration
within its jurisdiction in accordance with 7 CFR Part 246.
"Nutritional risk" means:
1. Detrimental or abnormal nutritional conditions detectable by
biochemical or anthropometric measurements;
2. Other documented nutritionally related medical
conditions;
3. Dietary deficiencies that impair or endanger health;
4. Conditions that directly affect the nutritional health of a
person, including alcoholism or drug abuse; or
5. Conditions that predispose persons to inadequate nutritional
patterns or nutritionally related medical conditions, including, but not
limited to, homelessness and migrancy.
"Nutrition education" means an individual or
group education session and the provision of materials designed to improve
health status, achieve positive change in dietary and physical activity habits,
and emphasize relationships between nutrition, physical activity, and health,
all in keeping with the personal and cultural preferences of the
individual.
"Participant" means a pregnant woman,
breastfeeding woman, postpartum woman, infant or child who is receiving
supplemental foods under the program, and the breastfed infant(s) of a
participant breastfeeding woman.
"Participant violation" means any deliberate
action of a participant, parent or caretaker of an infant or child participant,
or proxy that violates federal or state statutes, regulations, policies, or
procedures governing the WIC program. Participant violations include, but are
not limited to, deliberately making false or misleading statements or
deliberately misrepresenting, concealing, or withholding facts to obtain
benefits; selling or offering to sell WIC benefits, including cash-value
vouchers, food instruments, EBT cards, or supplemental foods in person, in
print, or online; exchanging or attempting to exchange WIC benefits, including
cash value vouchers, food instruments, EBT cards, or supplemental foods for
cash, credit, services, nonfood items, or unauthorized food items, including
supplemental foods in excess of those listed on the participant's food
instrument; threatening to harm or physically harming clinic, farmer, or vendor
staff; and dual participation.
"Peer group" means a system of grouping WIC
vendors according to structure; type; number of cash registers; square footage;
and sales. Peer groups are used to establish statistical norms that an
individual vendor may be compared against and provide the numeric baselines for
the process of determining what may be fraudulent behavior.
"PIN" means personal identification
number.
"Postpartum woman" means a woman up to six
months after termination of pregnancy.
"Pregnant woman" means a woman determined to
have one or more embryos or fetuses in utero.
"Proxy" means any person designated by a
woman participant, or by a parent or caretaker of an infant or child
participant, to obtain and transact food instruments or cash-value vouchers or
to obtain supplemental foods on behalf of a participant.
"Rebate" means the amount of money refunded
under cost containment procedures to the department from the manufacturer of
the particular food product as the result of the purchase of the supplemental
food with a voucher or other purchase instrument by a participant in the
department's WIC program. Such rebates shall be payments made subsequent to the
exchange of a food instrument for food.
"Routine monitoring" means overt, on-site
monitoring during which WIC program representatives identify themselves to
vendor personnel.
"SNAP" or "Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program," formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, means
the program authorized by the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011,
et seq.), in which eligible households receive benefits that can be used to
purchase food items from authorized retail vendors and farmers' markets.
"Specialty eggs" means eggs produced by
domesticated chickens, and sold at retail in commercial markets, if the
chickens producing such eggs are advertised as being housed in any of the
following environments:
1. Cage-free.
2. Free-range.
3. Enriched colony cage.
"USDA" means the United States Department of
Agriculture.
"Vendor" means a retail outlet that provides
supplemental food to WIC program participants.
"Vendor authorization" means the process by
which the department assesses, selects, and enters into agreements with vendors
that apply or subsequently reapply to be authorized as vendors.
"Vendor overcharge" means intentionally
charging the department more for authorized supplemental foods than is
permitted under the WIC vendor agreement. It is not a vendor overcharge when a
vendor submits a food instrument for redemption and the department makes a
price adjustment to the food instrument.
"Vendor violation" means any intentional or
unintentional action of a vendor's current owners, officers, managers, agents,
or employees (with or without the knowledge of management) that violates the
WIC vendor agreement or federal or state statutes, regulations, policies, or
procedures governing the WIC program.
"WIC-eligible nutritionals" means certain
enteral products that are specifically formulated to provide nutritional
support for individuals with a qualifying condition, when the use of
conventional foods is precluded, restricted, or inadequate. Such WIC-eligible
nutritionals must serve the purpose of a food, meal or diet (may be
nutritionally complete or incomplete) and provide a source of calories and one
or more nutrients; be designed for enteral digestion via an oral or tube
feeding; and may not be a conventional food, drug, flavoring, or enzyme.
WIC-eligible nutritionals include many, but not all, products that meet the
definition of medical food in Section 5(b)(3) of the Orphan Drug Act (21 U.S.C. 360ee(b)(3)).
"WIC program" means the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) authorized by Section
17 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, 42 U.S.C. 1786.
"WIC vendor agreement" means the WIC Vendor
Agreement and Handbook.
"WIC Vendor Instructions and Agreement
Booklet" means the grocery vendor application, grocery vendor
application guidance, special purpose vendor application, special purpose
vendor application guidance, and WIC Vendor Agreement and
Handbook.
