Opinion ID: 503529
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: DSS statutory authority

Text: 52 Appellants say that the DSS and its board, the CBSS, lacked statutory authority to enact emergency rules amending the Medicaid payment plan pursuant to the appellees' interpretation of the statutory language that the incentive allowance is to be paid subject to available appropriations. 53 In analyzing the authority delegated to the agency we consider the intent and language of the Colorado Medicaid Act, Sec. 26-4-101 et seq. The Act directs that in cooperation with the federal government, the necessary medical and remedial care and services be provided for persons who are categorically needy as contemplated by the provisions of Titles IV, XVI, and XIX of the Social Security Act. Secs. 26-4-102, 26-4-103(2). The Colorado DSS is the designated agency of the State for administering the program. Sec. 26-4-104. See Colo.Rev.Stat. Secs. 26-1-102-109 (promotion of the public health and welfare of the people of Colorado to be achieved through rules and regulations promulgated by the State department's board, the CBSS). Under the Medicaid Act the delegation to the DSS is explicit: 54 The state department, by rules and regulations, shall establish a program of medical assistance to provide necessary medical care for the categorically needy. The state department is hereby designated as the single state agency to administer such program in accordance with Title XIX and this article (emphasis added). 55 Sec. 26-4-104. Any actions of the DSS must be within the scope of this authority. 56 Statutes must be construed so as to effectuate their intent and beneficial purposes, not to defeat them. See, e.g., Ingram v. Cooper, 698 P.2d 1314, 1315 (Colo.1985); Colorado Dept. of Social Services v. Board of County Commissioners, 697 P.2d 1, 18 (Colo.1985); Industrial Commission v. Board of County Commissioners, 690 P.2d 839, 844 (Colo.1984). By their language, subject matter and inclusion in the same code, the organic statute for DSS and the Medicaid Act must be read in pari materia. See Allen v. Charnes, 674 P.2d 378 (Colo.1984). Here a comprehensive regulatory scheme was envisioned by the General Assembly. Colorado Dept. of Social Services, 697 P.2d at 16. It intended that the scheme be administered to conform to the concomitant federal enactment. The state and federal statutes should be construed together so as to maintain institutional harmony. Industrial Commission, 690 P.2d at 844 (citations omitted). 57 The authority for promulgating and administering regulations is explicitly delegated to DSS and its board, CBSS. Colo.Rev.Stat. Sec. 26-4-110(5)(c). (The CBSS shall, subject to available appropriations, adopt rules and regulations to determine and pay Medicaid providers whose actual administration costs are less than authorized reasonable costs.) Given the charge to protect the public safety and welfare and the forseeable shortfall in state monies which provide Medicaid services, the DSS and its board were not acting beyond the delegated authority when the emergency rules were enacted. As noted earlier, DSS was faced with a legal obligation to provide services to the categorically needy while the appropriated funds for this task were inadequate for the demands to be met during each of the fiscal periods involved. The emergency rules and regulations were appropriate as they were based on considerations directly related to the promotion of public safety and welfare and explicitly on the subject matter of the Medicaid Act as well as within the authority delegated to the DSS in the Medicaid Act. Citizens, 649 P.2d at 1065. The DSS actions clearly furthered the express purpose of the Medicaid Act. Id. The continued payment of the incentive allowance and other Medicaid components which were curtailed would have brought consequences in conflict with the intent of the Act, e.g., the loss of services to the categorically needy and possible federal sanctions for failure to provide federally required services. 58 We are not persuaded by the appellants' argument that the appellees were required to spend all the Medicaid appropriations until they received a forthcoming appropriation or before they could make the finding underlying the emergency rule that a funding shortfall existed. To hold as the appellants argue would bring an absurd result. Ingram, 698 P.2d at 1315; Colorado Dept., 697 P.2d at 18. We hold that the appellees' emergency rulemaking was within the authority of the DSS and that it acted in accordance with the CAPA and the Medicaid Act.