PUBLIC HEALTH DIVISION
(Adolescent, Genetics, and Reproductive Health Section
Kate Brown, Governor

800 NE Oregon Street, Suite 370
Portland, OR 97232
Phone: 971-673-0219
Fax: 971-673-0371
www.healthoregon.org/rh
May 31, 2017
Dear Mr. Welsh,
On behalf of the Oregon Health Authority’s Reproductive Health (RH) Program, I appreciate
the opportunity to respond to the press release “Oregon Health Authority Uses False SS# To
Enroll Medicaid Applicants” dated May 31, 2017.
The RH Program administers Oregon ContraceptiveCare (CCare), an 1115 family planning
demonstration waiver from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The
purpose of the program is to expand Medicaid coverage for family planning services to all men
and women of reproductive age not enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan and with household
incomes at or below 250% of the federal poverty level (FPL). As a Medicaid program,
applicants are required to provide such information as name, date of birth, income, household
size, Social Security number (SSN), and US citizenship or eligible immigration status for the
purposes of determining program eligibility. CMS is well aware that CCare has maintained a
long-standing policy permitting individuals under the age of 20 to enroll in the program without
providing their SSN if they don’t know or are unable to access it. The RH Program then tries to
identify the applicants’ SSN, in addition to their US citizenship or eligible immigration status,
through alternate means. Eligibility for applicants for whom citizenship or immigration status
cannot be verified is terminated following the state’s reasonable opportunity period.
When the RH Program developed its web-based eligibility database for CCare client
enrollment, we created what we thought of as a “dummy” SSN that would bypass the
database’s edit requiring that an SSN be entered. We did not realize that this dummy SSN
was, in fact, a real SSN assigned to someone. In late October 2015, the RH Program was
contacted by an agent of the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General
informing us of the issue. We quickly realized the scope of the issue and the significance of our
oversight. Within one week of learning of the issue, and in conjunction with our CMS Project
Officer, we removed all dummy SSNs assigned to clients in the CCare eligibility database.
Additionally, we enacted a new process by which enrolling staff were able to leave the SSN
field in the CCare eligibility database blank for new applicants under the age of 20 unable to
provide their SSN. Furthermore, the following sections of the Reproductive Health Program
Manual – Section C: Oregon ContraceptiveCare and Exhibit C-1: CCare Eligibility Database
Instructions – were immediately updated to reflect these changes.
The Reproductive Health Program takes seriously its obligation to state and federal funders, as
well as to Oregon taxpayers, to assure compliance with program regulations. As such, we
worked to remediate the issue rapidly. The issue was resolved to both CMS and the Social
Security Administration’s satisfaction.

 Thank you again for providing me with opportunity to respond to your press release. If in the
future you have additional questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.
Sincerely,

Helene Rimberg, PsyD
Adolescent, Genetics, and Reproductive Health Section Manager
Public Health Division
Oregon Health Authority