CSHCS ALERT #7-2017 - Payment Agreement Collections

Fri 7/28/2017 3:27 PM

Dear LHD Colleagues,

It is State policy that if a family fails to pay the full amount of their payment agreement, the contract be referred to the Department of Treasury for collection.  The process for CSHCS was re-established in April 2017 with outstanding contracts that ended in April 2016.  This will be a monthly occurrence, with outstanding balances that ended in the same month, 12 months prior, being referred to Treasury.  This means Treasury is sending letters to families notifying them of a balance due, with instructions on how to pay the outstanding balance.  Should you receive an inquiry from a family who receives one of these letters, you should do the following:    

• Remind the family of their contractual obligation.  (refer to Section 3 of the IRPA form for the specifics they agreed to when they signed the form)
• Instruct the family to follow the payment directions in the collection letter.  Please DO NOT tell the family to go to www.thepayplace.com or to send payment to CSHCS directly.
• If the family has already paid the balance through www.thepayplace.com, instruct them to call the Family Center and ask for Debra Catey.  Deb Catey works for MDHHS Accounting.
• The family needs to save the on-line payment confirmation.  CSHCS will not send a letter confirming a balance has been paid.

Treasury will send a monthly payment report to Debra Catey. This means it may take several weeks to see an update to the contract balance in the CSHCS database.

**If the family paid through www.thepayplace.com, it is important to notify Deb Catey.   If the family does not do this, they will continue to receive notices from Treasury. Because reporting is monthly, it is possible a family could receive a second letter if updates were not completed in time to interrupt the automated Treasury process.

If you have questions, please contact your County Analyst.

Martha McGraw

Region 2 Manager

CSHCS Customer Support Section