Statutory authority: ss. 227.11 (2)(a) and 227.24 and s. 9110 (3yu)(b) of 1999 Wis. Act 9.
Statutes interpreted: ss. 101.143, 101.144, 292.11, and 292.31 and ch. 160
The proposed ch. Comm 46 is identical to ch. NR 746 that is being promulgated by the Department of Natural Resources.
Chapter Comm 46 provides that the Department of Natural Resources has authority for “high-risk sites" and that the Department of Commerce has authority for “low and medium risk sites." The rule requires the Department of Natural Resources to transfer authority for sites with petroleum contamination from petroleum storage tanks to the Department of Commerce once the site is classified, unless the site is classified as a “high-risk site" or the site is contaminated by one or more hazardous substances other than petroleum products discharged from a petroleum storage tank. The rule also establishes procedures for transferring sites from one agency to the other whenever new information relevant to the site classification becomes available.
Chapter Comm 46 also provides jointly developed requirements for:
1. Selecting remedial bids and the setting of remediation targets for sites that are competitively bid or bundled with another site or sites.
2. Determining when sites may close.
3. Determining when remediation by natural attenuation may be approved as the final remedial action for a petroleum-contaminated site.
4.Tracking the achievement of remediation progress and success.
5. Reporting of program activities.
Publication Date:
May 17, 2000
Effective Date:
May 18, 2000
Expiration Date:
September 1, 2000
Hearing Dates:
June 15, July 10 & 12, 2000
Extension Through:
October 30, 2000
2. Rules adopted amending s. Comm 47.53, relating to appeals of decisions issued under the Petroleum Environmental Cleanup Act (PECFA) program.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Commerce finds that an emergency exists and that a rule is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. A statement of the facts constituting the emergency is:
The department is receiving funds from a bonding initiative to enable it to issue approximately 3,500 decisions on applications for PECFA funding which had been awaiting the availability of funding. Because these decisions will be issued over a very short time frame, parties receiving decisions and law firms representing them, will be required to review and analyze a large volume of decisions to determine whether they wish to appeal specific departmental decisions. Given the large number of decisions and the normal rate of appeals, it is reasonable to expect that the public will be required to prepare and file a large volume of appeals within a short time period. Attorneys, lenders and consultants representing multiple claimants have expressed concern about the workload associated with having to review decisions and draft appeals on the higher volume of decisions issued by the department within the current 30 day window. The emergency rule temporarily expands the filing period from 30 days to 90 days to provide additional time to evaluate decisions and determine whether an appeal should be filed. The rule covers the time period when the highest volume of decisions are to be issued.
Publication Date:
February 15, 2000
Effective Date:
February 15, 2000
Expiration Date:
July 14, 2000
Hearing Date:
March, 27, 2000
Extension Through:
October 11, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Health & Family Services
(Management, Technology, etc., Chs. HFS 1-)
Rules adopted creating ch. HFS 10, relating to family care.
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
The Legislature in s. 9123 (1) of 1999 Wis. Act 9 directed the Department to promulgate rules required under ss. 46.286 (4) to (7), 46.288 (1) to (3) and 50.02 (2) (d), Stats., as created by 1999 Wis. Act 9, but exempted the Department from the requirement under s. 227.24 (1) and (3), Stats., to make a finding of emergency.
Analysis Prepared by the Department of Health and Family Services
Legislation establishing a flexible Family Care benefit to help arrange or finance long-term care services to older people and adults with physical or developmental disabilities was enacted as part of 1999 Wis. Act 9. The benefit is an entitlement for those who meet established criteria. It may be accessed only through enrollment in Care Management Organizations (CMOs) that meet requirements specified in the legislation.
The Act also authorizes the Department of Health and Family Services to contract with Aging and Disability Resource Centers to provide broad information and assistance services, long-term care counseling, determinations of functional and financial eligibility for the Family Care benefit, assistance in enrolling in a Care Management Organization if the person chooses to do so, and eligibility determination for certain other benefits, including Medicaid, and other services.
Until July 1, 2001, the Department of Health and Family Services is authorized to contract with CMOs and Resource Centers in pilot counties to serve up to 29% of the state's eligible population. Further expansion is possible only with the explicit authorization of the Governor and the Legislature.
When Aging and Disability Resource Centers become available in a county, the legislation requires nursing homes, community–based residential facilities, adult family homes and residential care apartment complexes to provide certain information to prospective residents and to refer them to the Resource Center. Penalties are provided for non-compliance.
These proposed rules interpret this new legislation, the main body of which is in newly enacted ss. 46.2805 to 46.2895, Stats. The Department of Health and Family Services is specifically directed to promulgate rules by ss. 46.286 (4) to (7), 46.288 (1) to (3), 50.02 (2) (d) and 50.36 (2) (c), Stats. Non-statutory provisions in section 9123 of 1999 Wis. Act 9 require that the rules are to be promulgated using emergency rulemaking procedures and exempts the Department from the requirements under s. 227.24 (1) (a), (2) (b) and (3) of the Stats., to make a finding of emergency. These are the rules required under the provisions cited above, together with related rules intended to clarify and implement other provisions of the Family Care legislation that are within the scope of the Department's authority. The rules address the following:
•
Contracting procedures and performance standards for Aging and Disability Resource Centers.
•
Application procedures and eligibility and entitlement criteria for the Family Care benefit.
•
Description of the Family Care benefit that provides a wide range of long-term care services.
•
Certification and contracting procedures for Care Management Organizations.
•
Certification and performance standards and operational requirements for CMOs.
•
Protection of client rights, including notification and due process requirements, complaint, grievance, Department review, and fair hearing processes.
•
Recovery of incorrectly and correctly paid benefits.
•
Requirements of hospitals, long-term care facilities and Resource Centers related to referral and counseling about long-term care options.
Publication Date:
February 1, 2000
Effective Date:
February 1, 2000
Expiration Date:
June 30, 2000
Hearing Dates:
April 25, & 27, May 2, 4 & 8, 2000
Extension Through:
October 27, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Health & Family Services
(Community Services, Chs. HFS 30-)
Rules were adopted creating ch. HFS 79, relating to state supplemental security income payments.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
Sections 49.77 and 49.775, Stats., authorize the Department to administer Supplemental Security Income (SSI) state supplemental payments to low income elderly and disabled residents of Wisconsin and their dependent children. These SSI payments are funded by state general purpose revenue and federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant funding in excess of $140,000,000 per state fiscal year. These payments are distributed monthly to approximately 100,000 beneficiaries and their dependent children. Neither s. 49.77 or 49.775, Stats., direct the Department to develop administrative rules to administer the program.
An unavoidable aspect of the program is the Department's need to periodically recover payments incorrectly made to benefit recipients. Overpayments and incorrect payments occur due to delays in transmission of eligibility and pricing information between the federal Social Security Administration and the Department and are not due to the Department's error or omission. On November 24, 1999, by order of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, District II, the Department was found, absent administrative rule, to lack the authority to administratively recoup benefits overpaid to recipients who were ineligible for the benefits or to whom the Department paid an incorrect amount of benefits. The Department sought to appeal the decision to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but recently learned that the Supreme Court will not hear the case. The Department's inability to recover payments made in error will cost the Department about $10,000 per month. Developing and promulgating permanent administrative rules to address the Court's decision will require at least 7 months, thereby costing the Department approximately another $70,000. The Department deems this unanticipated expense a threat to the public welfare insofar as Wisconsin and federal taxpayers should not be called upon to shoulder the burden of these unanticipated and undeserved expenses. Therefore, the Department is promulgating this emergency rule until the Department can promulgate a similar permanent rule.
This emergency rule provides the Department with the authority to recoup benefits incorrectly paid under ss. 49.77 and 49.775, Stats., and to again effectively administer both state and federal public welfare funding. By issuing this rule, the Department will effectively recover taxpayer monies to which recipients were not entitled, pending the promulgation of permanent rules.
Publication Date:
September 5, 2000
Effective Date:
September 5, 2000
Expiration Date:
February 2, 2001
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Health & Family Services
(Medical Assistance, Chs. HFS 101-108)
Rules adopted revising chs. HFS 102, 103 and 108, relating to the medicaid purchase plan.
Finding of Emergency
The Department of Health and Family Services finds that an emergency exists and that the rules are necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety or welfare. The facts constituting the emergency are as follows:
This order creates rules that specify the manner in which a new program called the Medicaid Purchase Plan, established under s. 49.472, Stats., as created by 1999 Wis. Act 9, will operate. Under the Medicaid Purchase Plan, working adults with disabilities whose family net income is less than 250% of the poverty line are eligible to purchase Medical Assistance, the name given to Medicaid in Wisconsin, on a sliding-fee scale. The order incorporates the rules for operation of the Medicaid Purchase Plan into chs. HFS 101 to 103 and 108, four of the Department's chapters of rules for operation of the Medical Assistance program.
The Medicaid Purchase Plan is projected to provide health care coverage to 1,200 Wisconsin residents with disabilities by the end of Fiscal Year 2001.
Health care coverage under the Medicaid Purchase Plan is identical to the comprehensive package of services provided by Medical Assistance. Individuals enrolled in the Medicaid Purchase Plan would also be eligible for Wisconsin's home and community-based waivers under s. 46.27, Stats., provided they meet the functional criteria for these waivers.
Department rules for the operation of the Medicaid Purchase Plan must be in effect before the Medicaid Purchase Plan may begin. The program statute, s. 49.472, Stats., as created by Act 9, effective October 27, 1999, states that the Department is to implement the Medical Assistance eligibility expansion under this section not later than January 1, 2000, or 3 months after full federal approval, whichever is later. Full federal approval was received on January 7, 2000. The Department is publishing the rules by emergency order with an effective date of March 15, 2000 to meet the expected program implementation date and the legislative intent in order to provide health care coverage as quickly as possible to working people with disabilities.
The rules created and amended by this order modify the current Medical Assistance rules to accommodate the Medicaid Purchase Plan and in the process provide more specificity than s. 49.472, Stats., as created by Act 9, regarding the non-financial and financial conditions of eligibility for individuals under the Medicaid Purchase Plan; define whose income is used when determining eligibility and the monthly premium amount; explain statutory conditions for continuing eligibility; explain how the monthly premium amount is calculated; describe the processes associated with the independence account; and set forth how the Department, in addition to providing Medical Assistance coverage, is to purchase group health coverage offered by the employer of an eligible individual or an ineligible family member of an eligible member for the Medicaid Purchase Plan if the Department determines that purchasing that coverage would not cost more than providing Medical Assistance coverage.
Publication Date:
March 15, 2000
Effective Date:
March 15, 2000
Expiration Date:
August 12, 2000
Hearing Dates:
June 15, 16, 19 & 20, 2000
Extension Through:
October 10, 2000
EMERGENCY RULES NOW IN EFFECT
Health & Family Services
(Health, Chs. HFS 110-)
Rules adopted revising ch. HFS 119, relating to the Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan (HIRSP).
Exemption From Finding of Emergency
Section 149.143 (4), Stats., permits the Department to promulgate rules required under s. 149.143 (2) and (3), Stats., by using emergency rulemaking procedures, except that the Department is specifically exempted from the requirement under s. 227.24 (1) and (3), Stats., that it make a finding of emergency. Department staff consulted with the Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan (HIRSP) Board of Governors on April 26, 2000 on the rules, as required by s. 149.20, Stats.
The State of Wisconsin in 1981 established a Health Insurance Risk-Sharing Plan (HIRSP) for the purpose of making health insurance coverage available to medically uninsured residents of the state. HIRSP offers different types of medical care coverage plans for residents.
One type of medical coverage provided by HIRSP is the Major Medical Plan. This type of coverage is called Plan 1. Eighty-four percent of the 8,427 HIRSP policies in effect in March 2000, were of the Plan 1 type. Plan 1 has Option A ($1,000 deductible) or Option B ($2,500 deductible). The rate increases for Plan 1 contained in this rulemaking order increase an average of 12.4%. Rate increases for specific policyholders range from 3.5% to 15.0%, depending on a policyholder's age, gender, household income, deductible and zone of residence within Wisconsin. This increase reflects industry-wide premium increases and takes into account the increase in costs associated with Plan 1 claims. According to state law, HIRSP premiums cannot be less than 150% of the amount an individual would be charged for a comparable policy in the private market. The average 12.4% rate increase for Plan 1 is the minimum increase necessary to maintain premiums at the lowest level permitted by law.
A second type of medical coverage provided by HIRSP is supplemental coverage for persons eligible for Medicare. This type of coverage is called Plan 2. Plan 2 has a $500 deductible. Sixteen percent of the 8,427 HIRSP policies in effect in March 2000, were of the Plan 2 type. The rate increases for Plan 2 contained in this rulemaking order increase an average of 18.2%. Rate increases for specific policyholders range from 7.5% to 21%, depending on a policyholder's age, gender, household income and zone of residence within Wisconsin. These rate increases reflect industry-wide cost increases and adjust premiums to a level that more accurately reflects actual claim costs for Plan 2 policyholders.
The Department through this rulemaking order is amending ch. HFS 119 in order to update HIRSP premium rates in accordance with the authority and requirements set out in s. 149.143 (3) (a), Stats. The Department is required to set premium rates by rule. HIRSP premium rates must be calculated in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles. Policyholders are to pay 60% of the costs of HIRSP.
The Department through this order is also adjusting the total HIRSP insurer assessments and provider payment rates in accordance with the authority and requirements set out in s. 149.143 (2) (a) 3. and 4., Stats. With the approval of the HIRSP Board of Governors and as required by statute, the Department reconciled total costs for the HIRSP program for calendar year 1999. The Board of Governors approved a methodology that reconciles the most recent calendar year actual HIRSP program costs, policyholder premiums, insurance assessments and health care provider contributions collected with the statutorily required funding formula.
