225C.8 - LEGAL SETTLEMENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION.
225C.8 LEGAL SETTLEMENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION.
1. a. The dispute resolution process implemented in
accordance with this section applies to legal settlement disputes and
is not applicable to disputes involving persons committed to a state
facility pursuant to chapter 812 or rule of criminal procedure 2.22,
Iowa court rules, or to disputes of service authorization decisions
made through the county central point of coordination process.
b. If a county receives a billing for services provided to a
person under chapter 222, 230, or 249A, or objects to a legal
settlement determination certified by the department or another
county and asserts either that the person has legal settlement in
another county or that the person has no legal settlement or the
legal settlement is unknown so that the person is deemed to be a
state case, the person's legal settlement status shall be determined
as provided in this section. The county shall notify the department
of the county's assertion within one hundred twenty days of receiving
the billing. If the county asserts that the person has legal
settlement in another county, that county shall be notified at the
same time as the department. If the department disputes a legal
settlement determination certification made by a county, the
department shall notify the affected counties of the department's
assertion.
2. The department or the county that received the notification,
as applicable, shall respond to the party that provided the
notification within forty-five days of receiving the notification.
If the parties cannot agree to a settlement as to the person's legal
settlement status within ninety days of the date of notification, on
motion of any of the parties, the matter shall be referred to the
department of inspections and appeals for a contested case hearing
under chapter 17A before an administrative law judge assigned in
accordance with section 10A.801 to determine the person's legal
settlement status.
3. a. The administrative law judge's determination of the
person's legal settlement status is a final agency action,
notwithstanding contrary provisions of section 17A.15. The party
that does not prevail in the determination or subsequent judicial
review is liable for costs associated with the proceeding, including
reimbursement of the department of inspections and appeals' actual
costs associated with the administrative proceeding. Judicial review
of the determination may be sought in accordance with section 17A.19.
b. If following the determination of a person's legal
settlement status in accordance with this section, additional
evidence becomes available that merits a change in that
determination, the parties affected may change the determination by
mutual agreement. Otherwise, a party may move that the matter be
reconsidered.
4. Unless a petition is filed for judicial review, the
administrative law judge's determination of the person's legal
settlement status shall result in one of the following:
a. If a county is determined to be the person's county of
legal settlement, the county shall pay the amounts due and shall
reimburse any other amounts paid for services provided under chapter
222, 230, or 249A by the county or the department on the person's
behalf prior to issuance of the decision. The payment or
reimbursement shall be remitted within forty-five days of the date
the decision was issued. After the forty-five-day period, a penalty
may be applied as authorized under section 222.68, 222.75, or 230.22.
b. If it is determined that the person has no legal
settlement or the legal settlement is unknown so that the person is
deemed to be a state case, the department shall credit the county for
any payment made on behalf of the person by the county prior to
issuance of the decision. The credit shall be applied by the
department on a county billing no later than the end of the quarter
immediately following the date of the decision's issuance. Section History: Recent Form
2004 Acts, ch 1090, §33, 36
Referred to in § 222.63, 222.65, 222.67, 222.70, 230.2, 230.4,
230.6, 230.9, 230.12, 232.141, 249A.26, 252.23