West Virginia Fails To Comply With Medicaid Rule Filing Law, Lawsuit Alleges

The West Virginia Medicaid program has violated state law by failing to follow a standardized system for indexing and numbering its rules, according to a petition filed by Legal Aid of West Virginia in the state Supreme Court, the Charleston Gazette reports. The West Virginia Administrative Procedures Act establishes the system for filing new qualification rules and regulations. State agencies are required to title, number and index their rules and file them with the Office of the Secretary of the State.

Legal Aid alleges that Medicaid's failure to follow that system makes it very difficult for residents to determine which regulations are in effect. Bruce Perrone, director of Legal Aid, has asked the court to order the agency to comply with the law. He said, "It's a problem, particularly for anyone dealing with an eligibility question." He added, "I don't think this is being done deliberately. I think it's a mistake that's gone on inadvertently and probably unintentionally." The lawsuit also is seeking to prevent the secretary of state from accepting any future rules that do not comply with the law (Eyre, Charleston Gazette, 3/14).