(a)        When funds are used to purchase services, the following provisions apply:

(1)        Reimbursement rates for specific types of service shall be negotiated between the Secretary and the area authority. The negotiation shall begin with the rate determined by a standardized cost-finding and rate-setting procedure approved by the Secretary.

(2)        The reimbursement rate used for the payment of services shall incorporate operating and administrative costs, including costs for property in accordance with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 122C-147

(b)        To ensure uniformity in rates charged to area programs and funded with State-allocated resources, the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services of the Department of Health and Human Services may require a private agency that provides services under contract with an area program or county program, except for hospital services that have an established Medicaid rate, to complete an agency-wide uniform cost finding in accordance with subsection (a) of this section. The resulting cost shall be the maximum included for the private agency in the contracting area program’s unit cost finding. If a private agency fails to timely and accurately complete the required agency-wide uniform cost finding in a manner acceptable to the Department’s controller’s office, the Department may suspend all Department funding and payment to the private agency until such time as an acceptable cost finding has been completed by the private agency and approved by the Department’s controller’s office. (1993, c. 321, s. 220(j); 2005-276, s. 10.30.)