Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024
A. The department shall establish temporary
Medicaid reimbursement rates of $352.08 per day per individual for a 15-bed
private ICF/IID community home and $327.08 for an 8-bed private ICF/IID
community home that meet the following criteria. The community home:
1. shall have a fully executed cooperative
endeavor agreement (CEA) with the Office for Citizens with Developmental
Disabilities for the private operation of the facility;
a. the provider shall be subject to the
direct care floor as outlined in the executed CEA;
2. shall have a high concentration of people
who have intellectual/developmental disabilities, significant behavioral health
needs, high risk behavior, i.e. criminal-like resulting in previous interface
with the judicial system, use of restraint, and elopement. These shall be
people for whom no other private ICF/IID provider is able to support as
confirmed by the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities;
3. incurs or will incur higher existing costs
not currently captured in the private ICF/IID rate methodology; and
4. shall have no more than 15 beds in one
facility and 8 beds the second facility.
B. The temporary Medicaid reimbursement rate
shall only be for the period of four years.
C. The temporary Medicaid reimbursement rate
is all-inclusive and incorporates the following cost components:
1. direct care staffing;
2. medical/nursing staff;
3. medical supplies;
4. transportation
5. administrative;
6. the provider fee; and
7. dental pass-through/add-on per diem rate
(effective for dates of service on or after January 1, 2023).
D. The temporary rate and
supplement shall not be subject to the following:
1. inflationary factors or
adjustments;
2. rebasing;
3. budgetary reductions; or
4. other rate adjustments.
E. The Medicaid daily rate will
include a direct care $12 add-on to reimburse providers for increased cost
related to retaining and hiring direct care staff. This add-on will be
discontinued upon the next rebase, or at the discretion of the department.
NOTE: Medicaid providers have up to a year from the date
of service to bill Medicaid for their claims. The provisions of this Subsection
will apply to claims effective for dates of service on or after January 1,
2022.
1. Effective April 1, 2022, the
minimum hourly wage floor paid to directly employed (non-contracted)
non-nursing/physician direct care worker shall be $9 per hour.
a. Directly employed non-nursing/physician
direct care workers will include any employee whose wage expense is reported on
sch H - expenses lines A.2. - A.8. on the Medicaid cost report.
b. Providers shall submit to the department
or its representatives all requested documentation to verify compliance with
the direct care wage floor.
i. This
documentation may include, but is not limited to, payroll records, wage and
salary documents, payroll check stubs, and supplemental cost report
schedules.
ii. Providers shall
produce the required documentation upon request and within the time frame
indicated by the department, or the provider may be subject to sanctions, full
recoupment of add-on payments received, and/or disenrollment in the Medicaid
Program.
c. Providers
with directly employed non-nursing/physician direct care worker(s) that is
(are) identified as not meeting the minimum hourly wage floor requirement shall
be subject to a recoupment that is calculated as the differential between the
minimum hourly wage floor and the actual hourly wage paid for all hours worked
during the reporting period by the specific employee(s) that did not meet the
minimum hourly wage floor requirement. This recoupment shall not exceed the
total amount paid to the provider for the $12 direct care add-on in a state
fiscal year. This penalty is not mutually exclusive of any other direct care
floor or related penalty. Additionally, any recoupment as a result of the wage
floor will not impact any other direct care floor recoupment calculation.
i. The hourly wage of a directly employed
non-nursing/physician direct care worker will be calculated as the total
regular (non-overtime) wage expense (exclusive of bonus, benefits, etc.)
divided by the total regular (nonovertime) hours worked during the reporting
period.
2.
Effective April 1, 2022, a facility wide direct care floor is established at 75
percent of the per diem for direct care payment and at 100 percent of the $12
direct care addon payment for year. In no case shall a facility receiving this
add-on payment have total facility payments reduced to less than 104 percent of
the total facility cost as a result of imposition of the direct care floor. For
facilities that also receive add-on payments related to complex care or
pervasive plus, the greater of the direct care floors will be applicable.
a. If the direct care cost the facility
incurred on a per diem basis, plus add-on, is less than the appropriate
facility direct care floor, the facility shall remit to the bureau the
difference between these two amounts times the number of facility Medicaid days
paid during the cost reporting period. This remittance shall be payable to the
bureau upon submission of the cost report.
b. Upon completion of desk reviews or audits,
facilities will be notified by the bureau of any changes in amounts due based
on audit or desk review adjustments.
c. Direct care floor recoupment as a result
of a facility not meeting the required direct care per diem floor is considered
effective 30 days from the issuance of the original notice of determination.
Should an informal reconsideration be requested, the recoupment will be
considered effective 30 days from the issuance of the results of an informal
hearing. The filing of a timely and adequate notice of an administrative appeal
does not suspend or delay the imposition of a recoupment(s).
d. The direct care floor recoupment is not
mutually exclusive of any penalty related to not meeting the minimum direct
care wage floor or any other penalty.
AUTHORITY
NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with
R.S.
36:254 and Title XIX of the Social Security
Act.