Is the county required to issue a notice of action to a person who acts as "authorized representative" in the Medi-Cal application process on behalf of the applicant? Who may complete a Medi-Cal application on behalf of the applicant? Note that the term "authorized representative" for purposes of this discussion does not mean the person acting on behalf of a claimant in a state hearing. Instead, authorized representative refers to the person designated by the Medi-Cal applicant to assist him/her in the application process or who has assisted the applicant in the application process..

If the applicant is mentally competent, Medi-Cal Eligibility Procedures Manual (MEPM)§ 4-U page 3 says that counties are not obligated to issue a notice of action on a routine basis to the authorized representative. An authorized representative is permitted to receive a notice of action only if the applicant specifically requests one be sent to the authorized representative.

Even if the county fails to send a notice of action to the authorized representative upon the request of a competent applicant, that applicant would be responsible for filing a timely hearing request. The failure of the county to send a notice of action to the authorized representative would not be a basis for a judge to find jurisdiction if the competent claimant filed an untimely hearing request after receiving an adequate notice of action.

If the applicant is not mentally competent, and the county is made aware that the applicant is incompetent, the county is obligated to send a notice of action to the person completing the Medi-Cal application as well as to the applicant or beneficiary. If the person completing the Medi-Cal application designates someone else to receive county correspondence on behalf of the Medi-Cal applicant, the county must send any notice of action to that person.

The county is obligated to have the person completing the Medi-Cal application on behalf of an incompetent claimant complete a DHS 7068 form designating to whom the county should send all correspondence, including notices of action.