Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a)
Purpose and Contents
1) The Supportive Living
Facility Fund was created in the State Treasury on July 1, 2014 (see
305 ILCS
5/5G-35) . Interest earned by the Fund shall be
credited to the Fund. The Fund shall not be used to replace any funds
appropriated to the Medicaid program by the General Assembly.
2) The Fund is created for the purpose of
receiving and disbursing monies in accordance with this Section and Sections
5G-10 and 35 of the Code.
3) The
Fund shall consist of:
A) All monies
collected or received by the Department under subsection (b);
B) All monies collected or received by the
Department under subsection (j);
C)
All federal matching funds received by the Department as a result of
expenditures made by the Department that are attributable to monies deposited
in the Fund;
D) Any interest or
penalty levied in conjunction with the administration of the Fund;
E) All monies transferred from another fund
in the State Treasury; and
F) All
other monies received for the Fund from any other source, including interest
earned on monies in the Fund.
b) Provider Assessment
Beginning on July 1, 2014, an annual assessment is imposed
upon each supportive living facility in an amount equal to $2.30 for each
supportive living facility's care days. This assessment shall not be billed or
passed on to any resident of a supportive living facility.
c) Payment of Assessment and Assessment Due
1) The assessment described in subsection (b)
of this Section shall be due and payable monthly, on the last State business
day of the month for care days reported for the preceding third month prior to
the month in which the assessment is payable and due. A facility that has its
payments from the State delayed, due to problems related to State cash flow,
may request an extension on the due date for payment pursuant to subsection (c)
and shall pay the assessment within 30 days after reimbursement by the
Department.
A) The Department shall provide
for an electronic submission process for each supportive living facility to
report at a minimum the number of care days of the supportive living facility
for the reporting period and other reasonable information the Department
requires for the administration of its responsibilities. To the extent
practicable, the Department shall coordinate the assessment reporting
requirements with other reporting required of supportive living
facilities.
B) The Department shall
prepare an assessment, based on the reported care days, and will bill the
facility stating the amount due and payable each month and submit it to each
supportive living facility via an electronic process. Each assessment payment
shall be accompanied by a copy of the assessment bill sent to the supportive
living facility by the Department.
C) The provider assessment imposed by this
Section shall not be due and payable until after the Department notifies the
supportive living facilities, in writing, that the payment methodologies to
supportive living facilities required under Section 5-5.01a of the Public Aid
Code have been approved and the waivers under
42 CFR
433.68, if necessary, have been granted by
CMMS.
D) The provider assessment
imposed by this Section shall cease to be imposed if the amount of matching
federal funds under Title XIX of the Social Security Act is eliminated or
significantly reduced on account of the assessment. Any remaining assessments
shall be refunded to supportive living facilities in proportion to the amounts
of the assessments paid by them.
3) All payments received by the Department
shall be credited first to unpaid assessment payment amounts (rather than to
penalty or interest), beginning with the most delinquent assessment
payments.
d) Reporting
Requirements, Penalty, and Maintenance of Records
1) Every supportive living facility subject
to the assessment described in subsection (b) shall report the number of care
days of the supportive living facility for the reporting period on or before
the last business day of the month following the reporting period. Each
supportive living facility shall ensure that an accurate e-mail address is on
file with the Department in order for the Department to prepare and send an
electronic bill to the supportive living facility.
2) If a provider operates or maintains more
than one supportive living facility, a separate report shall be filed for each
facility. In the case of a provider existing as a corporation or legal entity
other than an individual, the report filed by it shall be signed by its
president, vice president, secretary or treasurer or by its properly authorized
agent.
3) If the provider fails to
file its monthly report on or before the due date of the report, there shall,
unless waived by the Department for reasonable cause, be added to the
assessment imposed in subsection (b) a penalty fee equal to 25% of the
assessment due.
4) Every provider
subject to a license fee or assessment under subsection (b) shall keep records
and books that will permit the determination of care days on a calendar year
basis. All such books and records shall be kept in the English language and
shall, at all times during business hours, be subject to inspection by the
Department or its duly authorized agents and employees.
5) Amended Assessment Reports. With the
exception of amended assessment reports filed in accordance with this
subsection (d)(5), an amended monthly assessment report must be filed within 30
calendar days after the original report due date. The amended report must be
accompanied by a letter identifying the changes and the justification for the
amended report. The provider will be advised of any adjustments to the original
assessment amount through a written notification from the Department. Penalties
may be applied to the amount underpaid due to a filing error.
6) Reconsideration of Adjusted Assessment. If
the Department, through an audit conducted by the Department or its agent
within three years after the end of the fiscal year in which the assessment was
due, changes the assessment liability of a provider, the provider may request a
review or reconsideration of the adjusted assessment within 30 days after the
Department's notification of the change in assessment liability. Requests for
reconsideration of the assessment adjustment shall not be considered if those
requests are not postmarked on or before the end of the 30 day review period.
Penalties may be applied to the amount underpaid due to a filing
error.
e) Procedure for
Partial Year Reporting/Operating Adjustments
1) Cessation of Business Prior to the Monthly
Due Date. A provider who ceases to conduct, operate, or maintain a facility for
which the provider is subject to the assessment imposed under subsection (b),
and for which closure occurs prior to the due date for the assessment period,
shall file a final report with the Department within 30 days after the closure
date. The final report will reflect the number of days the facility was
operational during the assessment period and the corresponding final assessment
amount. Closure dates will be verified with the Department of Public Health
and, if necessary, adjustments will be made to the final assessment due.
(Example: Facility closes on January 17. On or before February 17, the facility
must file a final report for the reporting month of January 1 through January
31. The report would reflect 17 days of operation (January 1 through January
17) during the month and must be accompanied by the final assessment payment
for the facility.)
2) Commencing of
Business During the Month in Which the Assessment is Being Paid. A provider who
commences conducting, operating, or maintaining a facility for which the person
is subject to the assessment imposed under subsection (b) shall file an initial
report for the assessment period in which the commencement occurs within 30
calendar days after commencement and shall pay the assessment under subsection
(c).
3) Change in Ownership and/or
Operators. The full monthly assessment must be paid on the designated due dates
regardless of changes in ownership or operators. Liability for the payment of
the assessment amount (including past due assessment and any interest or
penalties that may have accrued against the amount) rests on the provider
currently operating or maintaining the nursing facility regardless of whether
these amounts were incurred by the current owner or were incurred by previous
owners. Collection of delinquent assessment/license fees from previous
providers will be made against the current provider. Failure of the current
provider to pay any outstanding assessment/license fee liabilities incurred by
previous providers shall result in the application of penalties described in
subsection (f)(1).
4) Upon request,
the Department will share with a potential buyer of a facility information on
outstanding assessments and penalties owed by that facility.
f) Penalties
1) Any provider that fails to pay the full
amount of an assessment payment when due shall be charged, unless waived by the
Department for reasonable cause, a penalty equal to one percent of the amount
of the assessment payment not paid on or before the due date, plus one percent
of the portion thereof remaining unpaid on the last day of each monthly period
thereafter, not to exceed 100% of the assessment amount not paid on or before
the due date. Reasonable cause may include but is not limited to:
A) a provider who has not been delinquent on
payment of an assessment payment due within the last three calendar years from
the time the delinquency occurs;
B)
a provider who can demonstrate to the Department's satisfaction that a payment
was made prior to the due date; or
C) that the provider is a new owner/operator
and the late payment occurred in the assessment period in which the new
owner/operator assumed control of the facility.
2) Within 30 days after the due date, the
Department may begin recovery actions against delinquent providers
participating in the Medicaid Program. Payments may be withheld from the
provider until the entire assessment, including any penalties, is satisfied or
until a reasonable repayment schedule has been approved by the Department. If a
reasonable agreement cannot be reached, or if a provider fails to comply with
an agreement, the Department reserves the right to recover any outstanding
assessment, interest and penalty by recouping the amount or a portion thereof
from the provider's future payments from the Department. The provider may
appeal this recoupment in accordance with the Department's rules at 89 Ill.
Adm. Code 104. The Department has the right to continue recoupment during the
appeal process. Penalties pursuant to subsection (f)(1) will continue to accrue
during the recoupment process. Recoupment proceedings against the same provider
two times in a fiscal year may be cause for termination from the program.
Failure by the Department to initiate recoupment activities within 30 days
shall not reduce the provider's liabilities nor shall it preclude the
Department from taking action at a later date.
3) If the provider does not participate in
the Medicaid Program, or is no longer doing business with the Department, or
the Department cannot recover the full amount due through the claims processing
system within three months after the license fee or assessment due date, the
Department may initiate either administrative or judicial proceedings, or both,
to enforce provisions of this Section. Administrative enforcement proceedings
initiated under this subsection (f)(3) shall be governed by the Department's
administrative rules. Judicial enforcement proceedings initiated under this
subsection (f)(3) shall be governed by the rules of procedure applicable to the
courts of this State.
4) No
proceedings for collection, refund, credit, or other adjustment of an
assessment amount shall be issued more than three years after the due date of
the assessment, except in the case of an extended period agreed to in writing
by the Department and the supportive living facility before the expiration of
this limitation period.
5) Any
unpaid assessment and/or penalties shall become a lien upon the assets of the
supportive living facility upon which it was assessed. If any supportive living
facility, outside the usual course of its business, sells or transfers the
major part of any one or more of the real property and improvements, the
machinery and equipment, or the furniture or fixtures of any supportive living
facility that is subject to the provisions of this Section, the seller or
transferor shall pay the Department the amount of any assessment, penalty and
interest (if any) due from it under this Section up to the date of the sale or
transfer. If the seller or transferor fails to pay any assessment, penalty and
interest (if any) due, the purchaser or transferee of the asset shall be liable
for the amount of the assessment, penalty and interest (if any) up to the
amount of the reasonable value of the property acquired by the purchaser or
transferee. The purchaser or transferee shall continue to be liable until the
purchaser or transferee pays the full amount of the assessment, penalty, and
interest (if any) up to the amount of the reasonable value of the property
acquired by the purchaser or transferee or until the purchaser or transferee
receives from the Department a certificate showing that the assessment,
penalty, and interest have been paid or a certificate from the Department
showing that no assessment, penalty, or interest is due from the seller or
transferor under this Section.
g) Delayed Payment - Groups of Facilities
The Department may establish delayed payment of assessment
and/or waive the payment of interest and penalties for groups of facilities
when:
1) the State delays payments to
facilities due to problems related to State cash flow; or
2) a cash flow bond pool's or any other group
financing plans' requests from providers for loans are in excess of its
scheduled proceeds such that a significant number of facilities will be unable
to obtain a loan to pay the assessment.
h) Delayed Payment - Individual Facilities
In addition to the provisions of subsection (g), the
Department may delay assessments for individual facilities that are unable to
make timely payments under this Section due to financial difficulties. No
delayed payment arrangements shall extend beyond the last business day of the
month following the month the assessment payment was to have been received by
the Department as described in subsection (c). The Department may not deny a
request for delay of payment of the assessment imposed in subsection (b) if the
provider has not been paid due to problems related to State cash flow for
services provided during the month in which the assessment is levied. The
request must be received by the Department prior to the due date of the
assessment.
1) Criteria. Delayed
payment provisions may be instituted only under extraordinary circumstances.
Delayed payment provisions shall be made only to qualified facilities who meet
all of the following requirements:
A) The
facility has experienced an emergency that necessitates institution of delayed
payment provisions. Emergency, in this instance, is defined as a circumstance
under which institution of the payment and penalty provisions described in
subsections (c)(1), (c)(2), (f)(1), (f)(2) and (f)(3) would impose severe and
irreparable harm to the clients served. Circumstances that may create these
emergencies include, but are not limited to, the following:
i) Department system errors (either automated
system or clerical) that have precluded payments or that have caused erroneous
payments such that the facility's ability to provide further services to
clients is severely impaired;
ii)
cash flow problems encountered by a facility that are unrelated to Department
technical system problems and that result in extensive financial problems for a
facility, adversely impacting its ability to serve its clients.
B) The facility serves a
significant number of clients under the Medical Assistance Program.
Significant, in this instance, means:
i) 85%
or more of the facility's residents are eligible for public
assistance;
ii) The facility is a
government-owned facility that meets the cash flow criterion of subsection
(h)(1)(A)(ii);
iii) The facility is
a provider who has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which meets the cash flow
criterion of subsection (h)(1)(A)(ii).
C) The facility must ensure that a delay of
payment request, as defined under subsection (h)(3)(A), is received by the
Department and the request must include a cash position statement that is based
upon current assets, current liabilities and other data for a date that is less
than 60 days prior to the date of filing. Any liabilities payable to owners or
related parties must not be reported as current liabilities on the Cash
Position Statement. A deferral of license fee or assessment payments will be
denied if any of the following criteria are met:
i) the ratio of current assets divided by
current liabilities is greater than 2.0;
ii) cash, short term investments and long
term investments equal or exceed the total of accrued wages payable and the
license fee payment. Long term investments that are unavailable for expenditure
for current operations due to donor restrictions or contractual requirements
will not be used in this calculation;
iii) cash or other assets have been
distributed during the previous 90 days to owners or related parties in an
amount equal to or exceeding the license fee or assessment payment for
dividends, salaries in excess of those allowable under Section
140.541
or payments for purchase of goods or services in excess of cost as defined in
Section
140.537.
D) The facility, with the
exception of government-owned facilities, must show evidence of denial of an
application to borrow assessment funds through a cash flow bond pool or
financial institution such as a commercial bank. The denial must be 90 days old
or less.
E) The facility must sign
an agreement with the Department that specifies the terms and conditions of the
delayed payment provisions. The agreement shall contain the following
provisions:
i) specific reasons for
institution of the delayed payment provisions;
ii) specific dates on which payments must be
received and the amount of payment that must be received on each specific date
described;
iii) the interest or a
statement of interest waiver as described in subsection (h)(5) that shall be
due from the facility as a result of institution of the delayed payment
provisions;
iv) a certification
stating that, should the entity be sold, the new owners will be made aware of
the liability and any agreement selling the entity will include provisions that
the new owners will assume responsibility for repaying the debt to the
Department according to the original agreement;
v) a certification stating that all
information submitted to the Department in support of the delayed payment
request is true and accurate to the best of the signator's knowledge;
and
vi) such other terms and
conditions that may be required by the Department.
2) A facility that does not meet
the criteria of subsection (h)(1) may request, prior to the due date, a delayed
payment schedule. The Department may approve the request, notwithstanding the
facility not meeting these criteria, upon a sufficient showing of financial
difficulties and good cause by the facility. If the request for a delayed
payment schedule is approved, all other conditions of this subsection (h) shall
apply.
3) Approval Process
A) In order to receive consideration for
delayed payment, facilities must ensure their request is received by the
Department prior to the payment due date, in writing (telefax requests are
acceptable) to the Bureau of Hospital and Provider Services. The request must
be received by the due date designated by the Department. Providers will be
notified, in writing, of the due date for submitting delay of payment requests.
Requests must be complete and contain all required information before they are
considered to have met the time requirements for filing a delayed payment
request. All telefax requests must be followed up with original written
requests, postmarked no later than the date of the telefax. The request must
include:
i) an explanation of the
circumstances creating the need for the delayed payment provisions;
ii) supportive documentation to substantiate
the emergency nature of the request, including a cash position statement as
defined in subsection (h)(1)(C), a denial of application to borrow the license
fee or assessment as defined in subsection (h)(1)(D), and an explanation of the
risk of irreparable harm to the clients; and
iii) specification of the specific
arrangements requested by the facility.
B) The facility shall be notified by the
Department, in writing prior to the assessment due date, of the Department's
decision with regard to the request for institution of delayed payment
provisions. An agreement shall be issued to the facility for all approved
requests. The agreement must be signed by the administrator, owner or other
authorized representative and be received by the Department prior to the first
scheduled payment date listed in the agreement.
4) Waiver of Penalties. The penalties
described in subsections (f)(1) and (f)(2) may be waived upon approval of the
facility's request for institution of delayed payment provisions. In the event
a facility's request for institution of delayed payment provisions is approved
and the Department has received the signed agreement in accordance with
subsection (h)(3)(B), the penalties shall be permanently waived for the subject
month as it pertains to assessment, unless the facility fails to meet all of
the terms and conditions of the agreement. In the event the facility fails to
meet all of the terms and conditions of the agreement, the agreement shall be
considered null and void and penalties shall be fully reinstated.
5) Interest. The delayed payments shall
include interest at a rate not to exceed the State of Illinois borrowing rate.
The applicable interest rate shall be identified in the agreement described in
subsection (h)(1)(E). The interest may be waived by the Department if the
facility's current ratio, as described in subsection (h)(1)(C), is
1.5 or less and the
facility meets the criteria in subsections (h)(1)(A) and (B). Any waivers
granted shall be expressly identified in the agreement.
6) Subsequent Delayed Payment Arrangements.
Once a facility has requested and received approval for delayed payment
arrangements, the facility shall not receive approval for subsequent delayed
payment arrangements until the terms and conditions of any current delayed
payment agreement have been satisfied or unless the provider is in full
compliance with the terms of the current delay of payment agreement. The waiver
of penalties described in subsection (h)(4) shall not apply to a facility that
has not satisfied the terms and conditions of any current delayed payment
agreement.
i)
Administration and Enforcement Provisions
The Department shall administer and enforce Section 5G-5 of
the Code and collect the assessments, interest, and penalty fees imposed under
the law, using procedures employed in its administration of the Code generally
and, as it deems appropriate, in a manner similar to that in which the
Department of Revenue administers and collects the retailers' occupation tax
under the Retailers' Occupation Tax Act (ROTA).
j) Certification Fee
The Department shall collect an annual certification fee of
$100 per each operational or approved supportive living facility for the
purposes of funding the administrative process of reviewing new supportive
living facility applications and administrative oversight of the health care
services delivered by supportive living facilities. The certification fee
imposed by this subsection shall cease to be imposed if the amount of matching
federal funds under Title XIX of the Social Security Act is eliminated or
significantly reduced on account of the certification fee.
k) Definitions
As used in this Section, unless the context requires
otherwise:
1) "Department" means the
Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
2) "Fund" means the Supportive Living
Facility Fund.
3) "Supportive
Living Facility" means an enrolled supportive living site as described Section
5-5.01a of the Code that meets the participation requirements under 89 Ill.
Adm. Code
146.215.
4) "Care Days" means, with respect to a
supportive living facility, the sum for all apartment units, the number of days
during the month in which each apartment unit was occupied by a
resident.