D. The hearing officer shall conduct a hearing de novo on issues raised in the notice of appeal filed by the service provider and shall in a timely manner render a written recommendation based on the record and in accordance with applicable state and federal law, rule and regulation. The hearing officer shall provide a copy of the recommendation to the department and to the service provider along with notice of the opportunity to submit written comments to the commissioner.

E. The recommendation of the hearing officer must be forwarded to the commissioner for a final decision, based on the record, which must include any written comment submitted in a timely manner by the service provider and the department. The commissioner may adopt, adopt with modification or reject the recommendation of the hearing officer. The commissioner shall issue a final decision in writing, which must include the reasons for any departure from the recommendation of the hearing officer and notice of the process for appeal pursuant to Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter VII 7.

F.__The department shall reimburse a service provider for attorney's and related consultant fees incurred for representation in an appeal of an informal review decision of any MaineCare payment, recovery, recoupment and cost report and other audit issues, if the service provider prevails in the appeal.__If the department considers the fee to be unreasonable, the department may petition the Superior Court for a determination of the reasonable fee.__ The court shall apply the criteria set forth in Maine Bar Rule 3.3(a), or its successor.__A service provider may file a petition in the course of proceedings for judicial review of the department's final decision on appeal from an informal review decision.__If no appeal is timely taken from the department's decision but the department does not find the associated fee reasonable, the department may file a petition for a determination of the fee as an independent action.

The department shall provide funding for contractual services under this subsection from within existing resources.

Sec. A-2. 22 MRSA §48 is enacted to read: