Avoid Personnel Cost Denials - Indiana's New Non-Rule Policy
Scheduled to become effective in early September, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) will be implementing a new Non-Rule Policy (NPD) that provides guidelines for personnel task descriptions associated with costs submitted to the Excess Liability Trust Fund (ELTF) as well as changes to claim deductibles and reimbursement caps per release.
By giving applicants guidance on what information is needed in order to substantiate personnel costs, IDEM contends that the policy will allow for more timely and consistent review of claims by ELTF reviewers and reduce denial of personnel costs. IDEM published the NPD on 6/20/2016 and has opened a 45 day comment period that will close on 8/8/2016–becoming effective 30 days later.
Comments should be directed to all of the following addresses, no later than August 8, 2016: rsteiff@idem.IN.gov; cschroer@idem.IN.gov; bpace@idem.IN.gov.
To ensure maximum recovery of necessary and reasonable work in light of new Fund polices such as this NPD, Pinnacle works with applicants and their consultants to put in place invoicing and supporting documentation best practices.
Please contact Liz Petley, Pinnacle's Indiana Program Manager, at 954-977-3775, ext. 121 for more information.
The Denials in the Details
Although in recent years, ELTF has frequently denied personnel costs for ambiguous task descriptions associated with certain personnel costs, the new policy statement implies such costs will no longer be disallowed—pending the claimant offer the level of specificity set forth in the policy. While the NPD does state that applicants may use specific task descriptions other than those provided in the policy, they must provide not only the appropriate personnel classification and activity category as required in the rules (328 IAC 1-3-5(f)), but also a full and complete description of the task.
Although the personnel classification and activity category have been part of the rules for some time, this policy introduces specific, detailed task descriptions and supporting documentation requirements, by personnel classification, considered sufficient for approval of personnel costs.
Looking at the common personnel classification of Field Technician, acceptable and appropriate activity categories may include, "sampling”, “sample prep”, or “well purging”; however, without sufficient task descriptions such as "Collected soil samples, prepared for delivery to lab” (and included lab invoice and chain of custody); or “purged wells MWs 2-13,” such costs are likely to be denied. If conducting Operations and Maintenance, field notes or a detailed task description specifying equipment/supplies used and identifying wells would also be required, while if conducting decontamination/site cleanup, the equipment specified and the actual task must be described.
Action to Consider
Citing insufficient details, some of the most commonly denied personnel charges by ELTF reviewers are those with descriptors such as “project management,” “review,” “planning,” “GWM report,” “quarterly monitoring”, “oversight”, and “correspondence”. Going forward, these descriptions will not meet the standard for review, and in the interest of expediting reimbursement, applicants are encouraged to require that their remediation consultants review the NPD to ensure charges are detailed appropriately.
It’s also important to note that applicants are sometimes unable to submit costs for reimbursement for several months, or even years, as they await approval of specific remediation milestones such as ISC or CAP approval. Therefore, Pinnacle would like to suggest that claimants and consultants request that this NPD only be applied to costs invoiced after the implementation date of the NPD and that costs invoiced prior to that date be reimbursed based upon information provided—even if they lack the level of specificity laid out in the NPD.
Other Impacts to Claims
In addition to the release of this NPD, IDEM has also made statutory revisions to the ELTF that includes two additional changes that will impact claimants:
Deductibles will be reduced to a flat $15,000 plus an additional $1,000 for each annual UST fee that was not paid in the year due;
The maximum reimbursement per eligible release will increase from $2 million to $2.5 million, while the maximum payout to any eligible party per fiscal year was raised from $2 million to $10 million per fiscal year.
All releases occurring on or after July 1, 2016, including those that the date of occurrence is unknown or cannot be determined, will be subject to these revisions.
