17B:30-45 Authority of department.

5. The department is authorized to:

a. Accept assignment of debts from hospitals which have followed the procedures outlined in section 7 of this act, or such other procedures as the department shall adopt.

b. Pursue collection of debts pursuant to this act. The department shall initiate the program in phases. The first phase may involve acceptance of assignment of debt that:

(1) derives from a limited number of hospitals;

(2) consists of coinsurance and deductibles that remain payable after adjudication by a health plan;

(3) is assigned by a general hospital;

(4) is less than two years old at the date of assignment to the department, as determined by the date of discharge for inpatient services and date of service for outpatient services;

(5) involves any of the above or any combination of the above, or includes such other limitations as the department determines are desirable to smooth implementation of the program created by this act.

After the first phase, the department may expand acceptance of assignments as it shall determine pursuant to this act.

c. Test assignment data received from the hospitals to determine whether the records are sufficient to make set-off practicable, and return records that do not pass the test to the hospitals.

d. Conduct such fact-finding, as is necessary, in preparation for making a determination as to the validity of debts.

e. Make final determinations as to the validity of debts.

f. Determine the payment to be collected from the debtor, based upon a "fairness formula" to be determined by the department. For debt processed by the department during the fiscal year starting on July 1, 2003, the fairness formula shall be based upon the department's report entitled "Net Patient Revenue to Charge Ratio," for the most recent year available. For debt processed by the department during the fiscal year starting on July 1, 2004 and thereafter, the fairness formula shall be based upon the most recent available "Net Patient Revenue to Charge Ratio" report, or such other measure as the department determines would most fairly reimburse hospitals for treatment.

g. Offset liability for the hospital debts against the New Jersey Gross Income Tax pursuant to N.J.S.54A:1-1 et seq., including an earned income tax credit provided as a refund pursuant to P.L.2000, c.80 (C.54A:4-6 et al.), or whenever any individual is eligible to receive an NJ SAVER rebate or a homestead rebate pursuant to P.L.1990, c.61 (C.54:4-8.57 et al.) or P.L.1999, c.63 (C.54:4-8.58a et al.), and if the rebate is not required to be paid over to the municipal tax collector under the provisions of section 8 of P.L.1990, c.61 (C.54:4-8.64), and including any other financial resource authorized as a source capable of offset for any reason by section 1 of P.L.1981, c.239 (C.54A:9-8.1 et seq.).

h. Adjudicate the validity of all set-off challenges pursuant to N.J.A.C.18:35-10.1 et seq.

i. Make such decisions as to compromise and waiver of interest, penalties, post-judgment interest and write-off as it shall deem prudent.

j. Refer assigned debts under section 7 of this act to a collection agency in the event that offsetting is not practical or is not successful in fully resolving the debt.

k. Create standards for settlement of debts through the collection agency process.

l. Determine to cease accepting debt from a hospital until such time as the hospital can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the department that its accuracy has improved to acceptable levels where the department determines that data forwarded by a hospital to the department has an unacceptable level of inaccuracies regarding validity or quality of the debt forwarded to the department.

m. Contract with other State agencies for services, including administrative services necessary to carry out the duties of the department.

n. Fund the cost of its operations from the fund created by section 4 of this act.

o. Adopt rules and regulations pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to effectuate the purposes of this act; except that, notwithstanding any provision of P.L.1968, c.410 to the contrary, the department may adopt, immediately upon filing with the Office of Administrative Law, such regulations as the department deems necessary to implement the provisions of this act, which shall be effective for a period not to exceed six months and may thereafter be amended, adopted or readopted by the department in accordance with the requirements of P.L.1968, c.410.

L.2003, c.112, s.5; amended 2010, c.87, s.7.