Mississippi Administrative Code
Title 23 - Division of Medicaid
Part 207 - Institutional Long Term Care
Chapter 2 - Nursing Facility
Rule 23-207-2.17 - Feeding Assistant Program

1. The Division of Medicaid uses the direct reimbursement method for feeding assistant training expenses incurred by nursing facilities. Reasonable costs of training of feeding assistants in order to meet the requirements necessary for the feeding assistant to be certified and are to be billed directly to Medicaid. The nursing facility will be directly reimbursed by Medicaid for covered services and items as defined on the agency website. In order to receive Medicaid reimbursement, the training program must have approval from the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), Division of Health Facilities Licensure and Certification.

2. Services and supplies approved for payment will be subject to application of the nursing facility's percentage of Medicaid utilization. The Medicaid utilization percentages of every facility are redetermined annually and are applicable for one (1) state fiscal year. The Medicaid utilization percentages are taken from the most recent cost report at the time of redetermination. Nursing facilities and training centers are notified in writing of their Medicaid utilization percent. In cases where no cost report data is available, eighty (80) percent will be applied to approved billings until such time that the correct Medicaid utilization percent can be determined. Training centers' Medicaid utilization percentage will be redetermined annually and will be calculated based on the weighted average of Medicaid utilization percentages of associated facilities weighted by bed size.

3. The Division of Medicaid will reimburse the nursing facilities or related training centers for the minimum required services and supplies. A facility or training center will be reimbursed for no more than four (4) training sessions per year. No costs actually incurred by the facility or the training center will be considered for reimbursement, like for electricity, gas, or water. No reimbursements will be made for estimated cost. The cost of manuals approved for use by MSDH will be reimbursed.

4. Training programs refer to the training area set up within a nursing facility or training center. Training programs include, but are not limited to, training areas set up by a nursing facility in a remote location due to space restrictions and training centers where an area has been set up for training that serves more than one (1) facility and is located in an area remote from any of the associated facilities.

5. No reimbursement is available for training costs incurred by individuals or for tuition to outside entities.

1. The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) will withdraw approval of a program if it is determined that any of the minimum requirements are not met by the program.

2. Upon withdrawal of approval, MSDH will notify the entity in writing and will explain the reason(s) for the withdrawal of the approval. Students who have started a program from which approval has been withdrawn must be allowed to complete the course.

3. MSDH will notify Medicaid in writing when program approval is withdrawn. As a result, reimbursement will be stopped as of the date of withdrawal of program approval. However, Medicaid will reimburse the allowable costs incurred to complete a training session which is in progress on the date of withdrawal of program approval.