225C.8  Legal settlement dispute resolution.
  1.  a.  The dispute resolution process implemented in accordance with this section applies to legal settlement disputes and is not applicable to disputes involving persons committed to a state facility pursuant to chapter 812 or rule of criminal procedure 2.22, Iowa court rules, or to disputes of service authorization decisions made through the county central point of coordination process.
  b.  If a county receives a billing for services provided to a person under chapter 222, 230, or 249A, or objects to a legal settlement determination certified by the department or another county and asserts either that the person has legal settlement in another county or that the person has no legal settlement or the legal settlement is unknown so that the person is deemed to be a state case, the person’s legal settlement status shall be determined as provided in this section. The county shall notify the department of the county’s assertion within one hundred twenty days of receiving the billing. If the county asserts that the person has legal settlement in another county, that county shall be notified at the same time as the department. If the department disputes a legal settlement determination certification made by a county, the department shall notify the affected counties of the department’s assertion.
  2.  The department or the county that received the notification, as applicable, shall respond to the party that provided the notification within forty-five days of receiving the notification. If the parties cannot agree to a settlement as to the person’s legal settlement status within ninety days of the date of notification, on motion of any of the parties, the matter shall be referred to the department of inspections and appeals for a contested case hearing under chapter 17A before an administrative law judge assigned in accordance with section 10A.801 to determine the person’s legal settlement status.
  3.  a.  The administrative law judge’s determination of the person’s legal settlement status is a final agency action, notwithstanding contrary provisions of section 17A.15. The party that does not prevail in the determination or subsequent judicial review is liable for costs associated with the proceeding, including reimbursement of the department of inspections and appeals’ actual costs associated with the administrative proceeding. Judicial review of the determination may be sought in accordance with section 17A.19.
  b.  If following the determination of a person’s legal settlement status in accordance with this section, additional evidence becomes available that merits a change in that determination, the parties affected may change the determination by mutual agreement. Otherwise, a party may move that the matter be reconsidered.
  4.  Unless a petition is filed for judicial review, the administrative law judge’s determination of the person’s legal settlement status shall result in one of the following:
  a.  If a county is determined to be the person’s county of legal settlement, the county shall pay the amounts due and shall reimburse any other amounts paid for services provided under chapter 222, 230, or 249A by the county or the department on the person’s behalf prior to issuance of the decision. The payment or reimbursement shall be remitted within forty-five days of the date the decision was issued. After the forty-five-day period, a penalty may be applied as authorized under section 222.68, 222.75, or 230.22.
  b.  If it is determined that the person has no legal settlement or the legal settlement is unknown so that the person is deemed to be a state case, the department shall credit the county for any payment made on behalf of the person by the county prior to issuance of the decision. The credit shall be applied by the department on a county billing no later than the end of the quarter immediately following the date of the decision’s issuance.
2004 Acts, ch 1090, §33, 36