GAB Decision 621
February 1, 1985
New York State Department of Social Services;
Ballard, Judith A.; Garrett, Donald F. Teitz, Alexander G.
Docket No. 84-241
The New York State Department of Social Services (State) appealed the
disallowance of $1,651,914 in federal financial participation by the
Health Care Financing Administration. The disallowance was based on the
Quarterly Statement of Expenditures dated June 6, 1984, submitted by the
State for the quarter ended March 31, 1984, which included claims for
prior period local district expenditures. The grounds for the
disallowance were that the claims were unallowable because they were not
filed within the limitations for timely filing of claims in certain
statutes and regulations.
In its appeal, the State pointed out that so far as the Agency's
decision to disallow FFP here relied on Pub. L. 97-92, Pub. L. 97-276,
and regulations issued pursuant to those laws, the disallowance was
wrong under Joint Consideration-Timely Filing of Claims, Decision No.
576, October 5, 1984. That decision held that the cited statutes and
regulations did not permanently bar reimbursement of expenditures made
prior to fiscal year 1979 which were not claimed within one year after
the fiscal year in which the expenditures occurred.
The disallowance letter states that $391,367 of the claims here were
for expenditures before fiscal year 1980; they were not filed by May
15, 1981 as required by section 306 of Pub. L. 96-272. In addition, the
remaining $1,260,547 in post-fiscal year 1979 expenditures would also be
time-barred by the two-year limitation in section 306.
The State argued, however, that Pub. L. 96-272 should not be
interpreted to limit the State's right to claim the expenditures. The
State admitted that the Board had ruled against the State on this
question in New York State Department of Social Services, Decision No.
521, March 6, 1984 and requested the Board to issue a summary decision
(2) based upon Decision No. 521. The State further admitted that there
were no facts distinguishing the claims in this case, or their filing,
from Decision No. 521, and submitted no new argument why the State
thought Decision No. 521 was wrong.
We therefore conclude that the claims here are barred by statutory
filing limitations and sustain the disallowance of $1,651,914 based on
Decision No. 521, which we incorporate herein.
MARCH 19, 1985