(a) Procedure.--The department shall annually verify the income of claimants. The department shall verify the income of claimants by requiring income documentation from the claimants. An application for benefits under this subchapter shall constitute a waiver to the department of all relevant confidentiality requirements relating to the claimant's Pennsylvania State income tax information in the possession of the Department of Revenue. The Department of Revenue shall provide the department with the necessary income information shown on the claimant's Pennsylvania State income tax return solely for income verification purposes.

(b) Information confidential.--It shall be unlawful for any officer, agent or employee of the department to divulge or make known in any manner whatsoever any information gained through access to the Department of Revenue information except for official income verification purposes under this subchapter or as authorized under section 535.¹

(c) Penalty.--A person who violates this section commits a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 or to imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, together with the cost of prosecution, and, if the offender is an officer or employee of the Commonwealth, he shall be dismissed from office or discharged from employment.

(d) Coordination with Department of Public Welfare.²--To the extent possible, the department and the Department of Public Welfare shall coordinate efforts to facilitate the application and enrollment of eligible older people in the Medicaid Healthy Horizons Program by processing these applications at senior citizens centers and other appropriate facilities providing services to the elderly.

(e) Coordination with the Department of Health.--The department shall establish a method to be used at least once each calendar month, to cross-reference the department's roster of claimants with the death records information from the Department of Health. A claimant who is found to have a death record shall be subject to an immediate cancellation of benefits.