Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 50 - PUBLIC HEALTH-MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
Part XV - Services for Special Populations
Subpart 5 - Early and Periodic Screenings, Diagnosis, and Treatments
Chapter 95 - School-Based Health Services
Subchapter A - School-Based Health Service Program Guidelines
Section XV-9501 - General Provisions

Universal Citation: LA Admin Code XV-9501

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

A. EPSDT school-based medical services are provided pursuant to a written plan of care and provided by licensed medical providers within a local education agency (LEA) to Medicaid beneficiaries ages 3 to 21 with or suspected of having a disability. The goal of these services is to prevent or mitigate disease, enhance care coordination, and reduce costs by preventing the need for tertiary care. Providing these services in the school increases access to health care for children and youth resulting in a more efficient and effective delivery of care.

B. School-based medical services shall be covered for all beneficiaries in the school system who are eligible according to Subsection A above. Medical necessity criteria shall be determined according to the provisions of LAC 50:I.Chapter 11.

C. Medically necessary services are defined as those health care services that are in accordance with generally accepted evidence-based medical standards or that are considered by most physicians (or other independent licensed practitioners) within the community of their respective professional organizations to be the standard of care.

1. In order to be considered medically necessary, services must be:

a. deemed reasonably necessary to diagnose, correct, cure, alleviate, or prevent the worsening of a condition or conditions that endanger life, cause suffering or pain, or have resulted or will result in a handicap, physical deformity or malfunction; and

b. those for which no equally effective, more conservative and less costly course of treatment is available or suitable for the beneficiary.

2. Any such services must be individualized, specific and consistent with symptoms or confirmed diagnosis of the illness or injury under treatment, and neither more nor less than what the beneficiary requires at that specific point in time.

3. Although a service may be deemed medically necessary, it does not mean the service will be covered under the Medicaid Program. Services that are experimental, non-FDA approved, investigational or cosmetic are specifically excluded from Medicaid coverage and will be deemed not medically necessary.

4. The Medicaid director, in consultation with the Medicaid medical director, may consider authorizing services at his/her discretion on a case-by-case basis.

D. All service providers providing EPSDT school-based medical services are required to maintain an active license that is necessary for the applicable service within the state of Louisiana.

E. All participating LEAs are required to maintain an active status with Medicaid. Should an LEA's Medicaid provider number become inactive or one LEA from a group that shares a tax identification becomes inactive, it may cause the entire cost report to be denied and the cost settlement forfeited.

F. Effective for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021 cost report year, the individual cost settlement amounts for each program (therapy services, behavioral health services, nursing services, personal care services, and other medical direct services) will be combined into one cost settlement for the LEA. Settlement letters will be sent to the LEA with the individual final cost reports for its records. Medicaid administrative claiming (MAC) cost reports are derived by using the MAC-related time study results and cost related to each of the EPSDT programs. All costs will have been certified by the LEA with the EPSDT cost report, so no additional signatures or certifications are required for MAC. Therefore, MAC cost reports shall remain separate.

1. - 2. Repealed.

G. LEAs that terminate business must notify the Louisiana Medicaid fiscal intermediary, immediately. Instructions will need to be provided to Department of Health/Rate Setting and Audit and/or Department of Education as to the final disposition of cost settlements and previous dollars owed to or from Louisiana Medicaid.

1. For LEAs that transfer to new management companies and owe the department, the new owners shall assume all obligations of repayment for the new LEA. Overpayments will be recouped from future earnings of the new management company.

2. For separating LEAs that are owed reimbursements, the department will cut a supplemental check to the LEA or the new management company. However, failure to provide instructions to the department within 10 days of closure may result in forfeiture of payment.

3. Repealed.

H. Dollars owed will be assessed to all future cost settlements for the LEA and will be applied to the earliest cost report year with an overpayment. For example, if an LEA has an overpayment for nursing services and an amount due to them for therapy services, the payment for therapy services will be applied to the LEA's overpayment for the nursing services. The net balance from this offset will:

1. be used to offset overpayments in other periods (from oldest period moving forward to the current period);

2. create a net overpayment that will be carried forward and offset against future billings and/or payments; and

3. be remitted to the LEA.

I. Service Exclusion. Services are not covered if they are performed for educational purposes (e.g., academic testing) or determined not medically necessary. Medicaid does not reimburse for social or educational needs.

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 36:254 and Title XIX of the Social Security Act.

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