Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services
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Financial Services
Willard Bouwens, Administrator

The Financial Services Division provides support to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) through:

  • Budget development and monitoring;
  • State and federal report compilation;
  • Audit coordination, accounting transactions;
  • Revenue collections and monitoring;
  • Grant and contract support;
  • Medicaid reimbursement and claims processing;
  • Research;
  • Consultation on performance measurement;
  • Financial and program analysis.

The Division is sub-divided into eight Financial Services Units including the:

 

For more information, contact:
Willard Bouwens
HHS Finance & Support
Financial Services Division
P.O. Box 95026
Lincoln, NE 68509-5026
Phone: (402) 471-8072

Financial Services Units

ACCOUNTING: The Accounting Unit provides financial support for funds paid or received by DHHS. It is the system for receiving, recording, paying and auditing DHHS business transactions.

Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Accounts Payable: Payment of Invoice and Expense Documents

  • Accounts Receivable: Receiving DHHS Licensing and Fee payments

  • Manage DHHS cash funds

  • Internal Control Management: Separation of staff duties to prevent fraud

  • Financial Reporting: Prepare the DHHS portion of the Nebraska Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR)

  • Draft Financial Policies and Procedures for DHHS policy makers

  • Labor Cost Distribution: Distributing DHHS payroll/labor costs

  • Audit Management: Coordination of Active DHHS Audits

For more information contact the Unit Leader: Dick Kohel (402) 471-9031

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BUDGET: The Budget Unit is responsible for preparing, coordinating, communicating and monitoring the DHHS budget. The DHHS Budget Process is provided to help you understand the numbers within the DHHS budget.

Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Prepare the Biennial (2-year) Budget requests

  • Distribute funding into DHHS budgets. This assists managers in monitoring operations and aid

  • Help in projecting revenues to support DHHS expenses

  • Balance DHHS Budget Reports with legislative appropriations

  • Distribute and monitor DHHS employee salaries and wages

  • Assist with Fiscal Notes to Legislative Bills

  • Communicate and work with the governor’s budget office

For more information contact the Unit Leader: Dan Albrecht (402) 471-4618

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CLAIMS PROCESSING: The Claims Processing Unit provides support functions to DHHS client and vender payment programs.

Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Provide verbal and written support to client and vendor payment programs.                                                                                   (This includes vendors’ claims and assistance payments to clients.)

  • Make payments to clients and venders for the Energy Assistance Program

For more information contact the Unit Leader: Bill Niemann (402) 471-9170

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ELECTRONIC BENEFITS TRANSFER (EBT): The EBT unit manages the electronic food stamps program and DHHS debit card programs.

Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Promote the use of electronic cards to deliver DHHS benefits and services

  • Administer the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) project, which involves:

    • Nebraska grocers

    • Food Stamp Program clients

    • J.P. Morgan EFS, the current EBT contractor

    • DHHS staff

    • The U.S. Department of Agriculture

  • Increase the use of a debit card for making State payments
    Debit cards and Direct Deposit are payment options for the following people:

For more information contact the Unit Leader: Tom Ryan (402) 471-8043

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FINANCIAL & PROGRAM ANALYSIS (FAPA): The FAPA Unit provides financial, statistical, and budgetary support for DHHS aid programs.

Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

For more information contact the Unit Leader: Kim Collins (402) 471-9104

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GRANTS & COST MANAGEMENT: The Grants and Cost Management unit provides technical assistance and support to DHHS program offices related to federal grants and programs. Because of the variety of responsibilities performed by unit members, this Unit is separated into two work units: Grants and Cost Management.

Grants Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Enter grant awards into the Grants accounting schedule of the State accounting system

  • Prepare financial reports for DHHS Federal grants

  • Receive, review and maintain audits of sub-grant units

  • Review and negotiate indirect cost rates with sub-grant units

  • Provide financial advice related to grant programs

Cost Management Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Prepare hospital cost report for Medicare and Medicaid programs

  • Public Assistance Cost Allocation Plan (PACAP): Prepare an in depth report of DHHS cost distribution

  • Support the PACAP through the accounting process

  • Prepare indirect cost rate reports for DHHS

  • Interim Assistance Reimbursement: Process repayment from SSA claim settlements

For more information contact the Unit Leader: Larry Morrison (402) 471-9373

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MEDICAID AND FINANCE PROGRAM SUPPORT (MFPS): The MPFS unit provides financial support for the Medicaid division and other state programs. Because of the variety of responsibilities performed by unit members, this Unit is separated into four work units: Medicaid Audit, Medicaid Financial Support, Financial Responsibility and Client Support Services.

Medicaid Audit: Audit financial reports submitted by nursing homes, health centers, hospitals, the state’s regional care centers, and other health care providers.

Medicaid Audit Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Determine interim Medicaid billing rates

  • Finalize annual payment amounts owed to Medicaid providers

  • Identify and report fraudulent financial practices to the Attorney General’s office

  • Collect the state mandated ICF-MR tax for nursing homes

Medicaid Financial Support : Perform financial support procedures for the Medicaid division and federal government.

Medicaid Financial Support Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Collect drug rebates from drug companies based on federal guidelines and Medicaid drug claims

  • Process and collect overpayments, refunds, and third-party payments for Medicaid provider claims

  • Report Medicaid expenditures to the federal government on a quarterly basis

  • Process payments and deposits related to on-going Medicaid activities

Financial Responsibility: Collect payments from consumers receiving treatment or care from one or more of the state’s regional care centers and community and home-based developmental disability programs.

Financial Responsibility Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Determine clients ability-to-pay for services received. This is determined based on current laws and regulations

  • Perform billing and collection procedures to ensure clients are aware of and meet their financial obligation to the state

  • Bill third-party payers for clients such as Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. These bills supplement consumer payments

  • Perform Social Security payee responsibilities to assure funds are appropriately disbursed to meet the needs of state wards

  • Collect and disburse excess child support payments to the state

Client Support Services: Perform financial support procedures for clients receiving financial aid from programs such as the food stamp program, transportation, Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards and daycare.

Client Support Services Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • Collect overpayment of food stamps, aid to dependent children, aid to the aged, blind and disabled, childcare, children and family services

  • Manages Block Grant Payment Processing

  • Mails Metro Area Transportation bus tickets to clients in Omaha

  • Issues cab tickets and Star Tran bus tickets to clients in Lincoln

  • Issues EBT cards and handles customer service calls

  • Audits daycare billings and communicates with the case managers

For more information contact the Unit Leader: Jim Piazza (402) 471-9105

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RESEARCH & PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: The Research and Performance Measurement unit provides technical assistance and support to DHHS programs, divisions and Service Areas.

Functions/Primary Responsibilities:

  • The design of special studies or surveys, the analysis of study/survey data and the reporting of study/survey results

  • Data collection, compilation, statistical analysis, and reporting

  • The appropriate use of DHHS data and charts

  • The development of performance measures (including measures of effectiveness, quality and efficiency) and performance measurement systems (e.g., data collection, reporting, feedback)

  • The development of special reports, including the following

    • The Cancer Registry Report

    • The Healthy People 2010 report

    • The Vital Statistics Report

    • The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) Report

    • The DHHS Annual Report

  • The development and reporting of measures of social and health status

  • The review of requests from persons wishing to do research with DHHS

For more information contact the Unit Leader: Paula Hartig (402) 471-8941

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