2011 Annual Report - Virginia Attorney General

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2011 REPORT OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
occurred in Avante I based upon the Court of Appeals remand and if Avante II had
been litigated to the Court of Appeals, DMAS at the least would have been
responsible for costly auditing fees and likely would have been responsible for
significant attorneys’ fees. Without auditing and attorneys’ fees, the amount at issue
was $9,903,926. Avante agreed to settle the matter for $8,913,533 with no attorneys
fees and costs paid by DMAS. Had this matter been litigated further, the cost to the
Commonwealth would have been significantly more than the settlement amount. This
Office also assisted DMAS in resolving investigations by the Office of Civil Rights
(OCR) with respect to two Medicaid recipients. Through our work with OCR and the
client, the Commonwealth was able to provide these recipients with additional hours
of care, enabling them to continue to reside in the community. These resolutions
obverted lengthy investigations by OCR and potential federal lawsuits.
While representing the Office of Comprehensive Services (OCS), this Office
successfully recouped nearly $8 million in misappropriated taxpayer funds. This was
a case of first impression in that no locality had ever been audited formally by the
Commonwealth with respect to this program. OCS requested the Auditor of Public
Accounts to review expenditures of Comprehensive Service Act funds reimbursed to
Pittsylvania County. The Auditor found an overpayment to the county in the amount
of $7,699,933. After a lengthy hearing, the State Executive Council (SEC) found that
Pittsylvania County-Danville Community Policy and Management Board (CPMB)
was liable to the Commonwealth for $7,699,933 in CSA funds that were spent for
ineligible students and services. The SEC found that testimony and exhibits
demonstrated that the CPMB lacked adequate controls over the CSA program, that
there was a lack of communication and cooperation between the Pittsylvania County
School Board and the CPMB. The lack of cooperation on the part of the School
Board limited the CPMB's ability to appropriately determine eligibility. The SCC also
found that the CPMB self-reported non-compliance, sought technical assistance, and
began the process of corrective action on its own initiative. The SEC ordered the
CPMB to repay the Commonwealth $250,000 per year for ten years while
simultaneously implementing a quality improvement program to be monitored by the
OCS and supervised by the SEC. If at the end of 10 years the CPMB has
implemented and satisfactorily sustained the quality improvement program, the
remainder of the debt will be forgiven. If the CPMB fails to comply with the terms of
the SEC Order, it will be subject to repayment of the full amount for which it was
found liable.
Child Support Enforcement Section
The Child Support Enforcement Section continued its efficient and vigorous
prosecution of child support cases, handling 138,469 child support hearings in 2011.
The Section established new child support orders totaling more than $1.4 million and
enforced existing orders by obtaining lump sum payments in excess of nearly $12
million and sentences totaling 776,153 days in jail. The courts sentenced 6140
contemnors to jail; the majority of these individuals purged their contempt by paying
the court ordered amount prior to reporting to jail or shortly after being incarcerated.
The Section also handled 41 significant appellate and trial cases and succeeded in
obtaining dismissals of 23 claims or appeals, including a United States Supreme
Court case, 5 Virginia Supreme Court cases, 11 Virginia Court of Appeals cases, 5