10A.108 - IMPROPER HUMAN SERVICES ENTITLEMENT BENEFITS OR PROVIDER PAYMENTS -- DEBT, LIEN, COLLECTION.
10A.108 IMPROPER HUMAN SERVICES ENTITLEMENT BENEFITS
OR PROVIDER PAYMENTS -- DEBT, LIEN, COLLECTION.
1. If a person refuses or neglects to repay benefits or provider
payments inappropriately obtained from the department of human
services, the amount inappropriately obtained, including any
interest, penalty, or costs attached to the amount, constitutes a
debt and is a lien in favor of the state upon all property and any
rights or title to or interest in property, whether real or personal,
belonging to the person for the period established in subsection 2,
with the exception of property which is exempt from execution
pursuant to chapter 627.
A lien under this section shall not attach to any amount of
inappropriately obtained benefits or provider payments, or portions
of the benefits or provider payments, attributable to errors by the
department of human services. Liens shall only attach to the amounts
of inappropriately obtained benefits or provider payments or portions
of the benefits or provider payments which were obtained due to
false, misleading, incomplete, or inaccurate information submitted by
a person in connection with the application for or receipt of
benefits or provider payments.
2. a. The lien attaches at the time the notice of the lien is
filed under subsection 3, and continues for ten years from that date,
unless released or otherwise discharged at an earlier time.
b. The lien may be extended, within ten years from the date
of attachment, if a person files a notice with the county recorder or
other appropriate county official of the county in which the property
is located at the time of filing the extension. From the time of the
filing of the notice, the lien period shall be extended for ten years
to apply to the property in the county in which the notice is filed,
unless released or otherwise discharged at an earlier time. The
number of extensions is not limited.
c. The director shall discharge any lien which is allowed to
lapse and may charge off any account and release the corresponding
lien before the lien has lapsed if the director determines, under
uniform rules prescribed by the director, that the account is
uncollectible or collection costs involved would not warrant
collection of the amount due.
3. To preserve the lien against subsequent mortgagees,
purchasers, or judgment creditors, for value and without notice of
the lien, on any property located in a county, the director shall
file a notice of the lien with the recorder of the county in which
the property is located at the time of filing of the notice.
4. The county recorder of each county shall prepare and maintain
in the recorder's office an index of liens of debts established based
upon benefits or provider payments inappropriately obtained from and
owed the department of human services, containing the applicable
entries specified in sections 558.49 and 558.52, and providing
appropriate columns for all of the following data, under the names of
debtors, arranged alphabetically:
a. The name of the debtor.
b. "State of Iowa, Department of Human Services" as claimant.
c. The time that the notice of the lien was filed for
recording.
d. The date of notice.
e. The amount of the lien currently due.
f. The date of the assessment.
g. The date of satisfaction of the debt.
h. Any extension of the time period for application of the
lien and the date that the notice for extension was filed.
5. The recorder shall endorse on each notice of lien the day and
time filed for recording and the document reference number, and shall
preserve the notice. The recorder shall index the notice and shall
record the lien in the manner provided for recording real estate
mortgages. The lien is effective from the time of the indexing.
6. The department shall pay, from moneys appropriated to the
department for this purpose, recording fees as provided in section
331.604, for the recording of the lien, or for satisfaction of the
lien.
7. Upon payment of a debt for which the director has filed notice
with a county recorder, the director shall file a satisfaction of the
debt with the recorder and the recorder shall enter the satisfaction
on the notice on file in the recorder's office.
8. The department of inspections and appeals, as provided in this
chapter and chapter 626, shall proceed to collect all debts owed the
department of human services as soon as practicable after the debt
becomes delinquent. If service has not been made on a distress
warrant by the officer to whom addressed within five days from the
date the distress warrant was received by the officer, the authorized
investigators of the department of inspections and appeals may serve
and make return of the warrant to the clerk of the district court of
the county named in the distress warrant, and all subsequent
procedures shall be in compliance with chapter 626.
9. The distress warrant shall be in a form as prescribed by the
director, shall be directed to the sheriff of the appropriate county,
and shall identify the debtor, the type of debt, and the delinquent
amount. The distress warrant shall direct the sheriff to distrain,
seize, garnish, or levy upon, and sell, as provided by law, any real
or personal property belonging to the debtor to satisfy the amount of
the delinquency plus costs. The distress warrant shall also direct
the sheriff to make due and prompt return to the department or to the
district court under chapter 626 of all amounts collected.
10. The attorney general, upon the request of the director of
inspections and appeals, shall bring an action, as the facts may
justify, without bond, to enforce payment of any debts under this
section, and in the action the attorney general shall have the
assistance of the county attorney of the county in which the action
is pending.
11. The remedies of the state shall be cumulative and no action
taken by the director of inspections and appeals or attorney general
shall be construed to be an election on the part of the state or any
of its officers to pursue any remedy to the exclusion of any other
remedy provided by law. Section History: Recent Form
94 Acts, ch 1112, §1; 96 Acts, ch 1052, §2; 97 Acts, ch 23, §2, 3;
2002 Acts, ch 1113, §1; 2009 Acts, ch 27, §1