Ky.gov
Effective: 4/1/2019

12.33 Unpaid Expenses and Debt Collections

Legal Authority

Introduction

​​Throughout a child’s stay in out of home care, they will be encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities and will receive regular physical, mental and dental health care.  As a result of this, sometimes expenses for these children are accidentally overlooked or billed incorrectly, which could result in a foster parent being billed directly or being sent to a collection agency, as the responsible party for the child.  When this occurs, the SSW follows the procedures in this SOP for guidance.   ​​​

Practice Guidance

Procedure

​For Unpaid Medical Expenses

If a foster parent receives a delinquent bill or a collection letter, for a Medicaid eligible service, regarding a child currently or formerly placed with them in foster care, the SSW:

  1. Obtains a copy of the bill/letter from the foster parent;
  2. Sends the bill/letter, via fax/mail/e-mail to the appropriate managed care organization or Medicaid.  
  3. Includes a statement with the bill/letter that the child is a managed care organization member or Medicaid member who was billed or balance billed for a covered service and lists the date of service.
  4. If the managed care organization or Medicaid refuses to cover the outstanding debt, because it is too far past due, the SSW sends the bill/letter to the regional billing specialist, who submits a special expense request to the Division of Administrative and Fiscal Management (DAFM) for final approval/denial.
For Unpaid Extracurricular Activities or Functions

If a foster parent receives a delinquent bill or a collection letter, for anything other than a Medicaid eligible service, regarding a child placed with them in foster care, the SSW:

  1. Obtains the bill/letter from the foster parent;
  2. Confirms that the expense in question was an agency approved item;
  3. Sends the bill/letter to the regional billing specialist if this is an expense that the agency agreed to cover.
  4. The billing specialist submits a special expense request to DAFM for final approval/denial. 

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Documents

Revisions