Division of Child Support
Office of Financial RecoveryMore About Our Recovery Services: How to Find Us, Who to CallTHIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN PREPARED for those who want to know more about our services, or would like to reach us directly. Our office is located in Olympia, Washington. To schedule an appointment, or reach us by phone, please call 360-664-5700, 1-800-562-6114, or TTY WA 1-800-833-6388. MailingAddress:
Developmental Disabilities Program OFR is responsible for the billing and collections for the cost of care for individuals living at the four state-operated Residential Habilitation Centers (RHC's). The Community Service Office (CSO), determines Medicaid eligibility, once the eligibility is determined a Notice and Finding of Responsibility (NFR) is established for individuals with private participation. The NFR becomes the basis for recovery from first party resources. As financial resources for the residents change, the CSO's provide award letters to OFR to update or modify private liability amounts. The CSO's conduct annual reviews to help ensure the appropriate level of benefits are maintained. Each month, Medicaid and private billings are generated for residents with benefits. OFR monitors all cases to ensure payments are received. In addition to the four RHC's, the Division of Developmental Disabilities manages a community-based State Operated Living Alternatives (SOLA) program. The SOLA facilities offer options to persons with developmental disabilities to ensure safe care and maximum independence in their living arrangements. The Community Service Office (CSO) determines Medicaid eligibility. OFR monitors SOLA accounts for Medicaid payments for the cost of services provided at the SOLA facilities. OFR is responsible for verifying and maintaining accurate census data for both the RHC's and SOLA's to ensure correct billing to Medicaid. For more information call: OFR recovers correctly paid long-term care services, Medicaid assistance, and related medical charges from the estates of decedents. Recovery may be made from estates of recipients of state-funded long-term care services (without regard to age) and Medicaid services aged 55 and older at the time of death. Upon receiving notice of a recipient's death, OFR investigates if the decedent's estate has resources and whether a claim to recover costs of service provided to the decedent can be made within the parameters of the estate recovery statute. If these conditions are met, a lien is filed against the decedent's property and/or a Notice to the Creditor claim is filed against the decedent's estate in probate court. HRSA and ADSA rely on these funds to help offset the cost of medical and personal care delivered to current recipients For more information call: OFR recovers debts due DSHS from vendors who provide services to the department or DSHS clients. These debts include vendor overpayments, nursing home cost settlements, civil fines, and certification fees. Vendor overpayments can occur in any DSHS program. Overpayments are discovered through program or performance audits, computer records (Payment Reliability Program), program staff reviews, and vendors. Recovery actions may include recoupment from future payments, negotiating repayment agreements, legal actions, demands against security posted by vendors, or filing liens. The vendor unit also recovers miscellaneous debts due the department such as employee overpayments and overpayments established by the Child Welfare Training and Advancement Program (CWTAP) For more information call: State law requires that parents of juvenile offenders pay a percentage of their gross income to the department for the cost of the juvenile's support, treatment, and confinement in DSHS Juvenile Rehabilitation facilities. Ability to pay is based on a parent's income in accordance with a sliding fee schedule. A Notice of Finding of Financial Responsibility (NFFR) establishes the debt and forms the legal basis for collection and enforcement. OFR collects amounts owed for the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (JRA), and is responsible for establishing, managing, and collecting the accounts receivable. JRA uses these funds to help offset unanticipated budget costs, such as unexpected medical cost incurred by seriously ill juveniles in custody For more information call: OFR manages the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) interim assistance reimbursement program. The state of Washington has an agreement with the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration (SSA) to provide interim assistance to incapacitated adults without dependents under the General Assistance-Unemployable program while their SSI application is pending. For more information call: OFR manages the recovery for patient care provided at state psychiatric hospitals: Admission to a state hospital is based on a need for services, not on the ability to pay for those services. A patient's liability for cost of care and ability to pay is determined by OFR staff based on the patient's or other responsible party's financial resources. When available, third party resources such as Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance are billed first. Financial resources include cash, negotiable assets, real property, wages, federal entitlements, and private medical insurance. After financial resources have been investigated and identified, a Notice and Finding of Responsibility (NFR) is served which establishes the legal basis for collection and enforcement of first party liability. For more information call: OFR manages billing and accounting for three medical assistance programs administered by DSHS; the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Healthcare for Workers with Disabilities (HWD) and Medical Extension Benefits (MEB) programs. Together, these programs provide medical coverage for over 8,500 children and adults who would otherwise not have health insurance. OFR's success and the value of these programs have resulted in the development of a similar program that will bring subsidized DSHS medical insurance to over 60,000 Washington state residents. For more information call: OFR manages recoupments made from the Labor and Industries (L&I) Time Loss benefits that duplicate financial assistance paid to clients by DSHS identification of duplicated benefits is accomplished in several ways: . CSO caseworker notification to OFR of potential time loss benefits
Duplicated benefit amounts are computed by OFR, which files liens against the time loss benefit. L&I deducts the OFR claim amount from the client's Time Loss benefits. For more information call: OFR is responsible for the recovery of financial, medical, social services, and food assistance overpayments from DSHS clients. The Community Service Office (CSO) discovers the overpayment, notifies the client, and refers the overpayment to OFR. For clients receiving financial assistance, a deduction may be taken from their monthly grant or when receiving food assistance from their allotment. For clients no longer receiving assistance, other administrative and judicial recovery actions may be taken. The food assistance program is federally funded. Therefore, federal payments including income tax refunds, wages, and social security benefits can be offset to repay delinquent food assistance debts through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP). Most food assistance recoveries are forwarded to the federal government but a percentage of each dollar collected for Intentional Program Violations and Inadvertent Household Error overpayments is retained by OFR to help with administrative costs. For more information call: |
