North Dakota Administrative Code
Title 75 - Department of Human Services
Article 75-02 - Economic Assistance
Chapter 75-02-06 - Ratesetting for Nursing Home Care
Section 75-02-06-04.1 - Funded depreciation

1. Funding of depreciation is the practice of placing funds, including nonborrowed bond reserve and sinking funds, in a segregated account for the acquisition of capital assets used in rendering resident care or for other capital purposes related to resident care. Other capital purposes include capital debt liquidation, such as principal payments for bonds and mortgages.

2. All provisions of this subsection must be met in order to qualify as funding of depreciation. If the provisions are not met, income earned on investments must be offset to interest expense.

3. Total funded depreciation from deposits in excess of accumulated depreciation on resident-related assets must be considered as ordinary investments and the income therefrom must be used to offset interest expense.

4. Withdrawals for the acquisition of capital assets, the payment of mortgage principal on the assets, and other capital expenditures are on a first-in, first-out basis. Withdrawals for general operating purposes or for loans to the general fund are made on a last-in, first-out basis.

5. The facility may borrow from funded depreciation to obtain working capital for normal operating expenses used for resident care. In addition, the facility may borrow from funded depreciation accounts of related nursing and hospital facilities if the funded depreciation accounts of the related facilities are maintained in accordance with HCFA-15, section 226. The interest incurred by the general fund is allowable provided the loans are necessary and proper, and provided the funds withdrawn have met the six-month funding requirement. If the funds withdrawn do not meet the six-month funding requirement, interest paid on the loan is not an allowable cost. Funds loaned under the provisions of this subsection are available funded depreciation. Costs incurred to secure lines of credit to ensure availability are not allowable costs.

6. Interest paid by the general fund to the funded depreciation account is not an allowable cost if the facility borrows the funds to acquire capital assets. The facility is expected to use funded depreciation for that purpose.

7. Deposits of funds into the funded depreciation account must be first applied to reduce loans outstanding from the funded depreciation account to the general fund. Until such loans, including related-party loans, are repaid in full, funds deposited in the funded depreciation account must be considered as repayments on the loans and any subsequent interest expense of the general fund to the extent of the repaid loans is not allowable.

8. Available funded depreciation must be withdrawn and used before resorting to borrowing for the acquisition of capital assets or other capital purposes. Because it is frequently difficult to time a bond offering or other borrowing to coincide with the exhaustion of available funded depreciation, it is sufficient if available funded depreciation is contractually committed to and expended during the course of construction.

9. Funds are considered available unless committed, by virtue of contractual arrangements, to the acquisition of capital assets used to render resident care, or to other capital purposes. Borrowing for a purpose intended by funded depreciation is unnecessary to the extent funded depreciation is available. Thus, interest expense for borrowing up to the amount of available funded depreciation is not an allowable cost.

10. When funded depreciation is used by the facility for other than the acquisition of capital assets, other capital purposes related to resident care, or loans to the general fund for current operating costs, the income earned on these funds while on deposit in the funded account must be adjusted in the report year the withdrawal was made. The adjustment must include all offsets not made in prior reporting periods for earnings applicable to these funds.

11. Borrowing for a purpose for which funded depreciation account funds may have been used makes the borrowing unnecessary to the extent that funded depreciation account funds were available at the time of the borrowing. Available funds in the funded depreciation account, to the extent of the unnecessary borrowing, are tainted funds. Interest expense incurred on borrowing for a capital purpose is not an allowable cost to the extent that funded depreciation account funds were available at the time of the borrowing.

12. A provider may remove the unnecessary characterization of borrowing, and thereby cure tainted funded depreciation, by using the tainted funds for a proper purpose described in subsection 1. Any funded depreciation that existed at the time of the unnecessary borrowing and is not classified as tainted must be used before any of the tainted funds.

13. When only a portion of the borrowing is considered unnecessary under subsection 11, subsequent repayments of the borrowing from general funds must first be applied to the allowable portion of the borrowing and then, when all of the allowable borrowing is repaid, to the unallowable portion of the borrowing. When funds from the funded depreciation account are used for the repayment of the unnecessary borrowing, an equivalent amount of tainted funds is cured without regard to the provisions of subsections 11 and 12. Where general funds are used to pay for the unallowable borrowing after the necessary borrowing has been repaid, an equivalent amount of tainted funded depreciation is cured without regard to the provisions of subsections 11 and 12.