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DHHS legal and regulatory offices describe licensing workload, appeals and ombudsman roles; estate-recovery staff proposal cited
Summary
DHHS’ Office of Legal and Regulatory Services outlined licensing and certification workload for child care and health facilities, the department’s legal counsel and administrative appeals process, the ombudsman functions and the estate-recovery program; leaders said many licensing inspections are completed quickly, that certification work is often
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Legal and Regulatory Services presented licensing, legal counsel, appeals and ombudsman work to the House Finance Division 3.
Melissa Saint Cyr, chief legal officer, and the bureau directors described the scope: the Bureau of Licensing and Certification covers child care licensing (712 family and center-based day-care slots listed in the briefing) and a wide range of health facilities (hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living, ambulatory surgery, dialysis and community residences). Saint Cyr said the department uses a deemed-license approach when federal certification requirements are met: a federal certification inspection can satisfy the state license inspection requirement.
On legal services, department general counsel staff handle a wide range of in-house legal work including policy and rule interpretation, discovery management for lawsuits and administrative representation; the division also houses legislative liaisons and attorneys who support the department in contested matters. DHHS attorneys collaborate with the Attorney General’s Office on litigation, and staff noted improved e-discovery capability is a department priority.
The administrative appeals unit manages adjudicative hearings under state statute and has administrative law judges and clerical staff; Saint Cyr said the unit hears about 1,000 cases a year. The department also described two ombudsman offices: a general DHHS ombudsman that handles confidential complaints across DHHS programs and a long-term-care ombudsman that advocates for residents of long-term care facilities.
On recoveries, the legal office highlighted the estate-recovery program and said additional estate-recovery staffing could produce higher recoveries. Saint Cyr and other staff discussed how recoveries are accounted for: some funds are unrestricted revenue to the state while other recoveries are required to be returned to federal programs or county accounts depending on the payment source.
Ending note: Leaders asked the committee to consider the practical resource needs of licensing, legal discovery and estate-recovery work and agreed to provide follow-ups on licensing fees and on how different types of recoveries flow through state and federal accounts.
