Home Care Cost Report Education Session Held by DOH and KPMG

Situation Report | October 4, 2021 

On September 29, 2021, the state Department of Health (DOH) and its contractor, KMPG, held a provider outreach session to review the Home Care Cost Report. Click here for more information. 

The presentation will be posted in the Cost Report web-based portal. DOH will conduct two more outreach sessions in October and early November. HCA will notify the membership when DOH announces the dates of each of these sessions.   

The Cost Report is due in the Web-based Tool by November 15, 2021 while the documentation is due in the Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) site by November 22, 2021.  

The session reviewed the timeline; technical items; web-based tool items; SFTP site and supporting documentation; and helpful resources.  In response to HCA’s question, DOH said that it is still working on 2021 Medicaid fee-for-service rates for agencies and cannot give an expected release date. 

Some important information, includes:  

  • If a Certified Home Health Agency (CHHA), Licensed Home Care Services Agency (LHCSA), or Fiscal Intermediary (FI) was operational in calendar year 2020, they are required to complete the Home Care Cost Report. This still applies even if the agency is currently non-operational in 2021.
  • Previously, if you needed to edit information in the Reporting Hierarchy tab, but had already submitted this section, you needed to send an email to us-advrisknyshc@kpmg.com, requesting this section to be unlocked. KPMG has updated this feature in the Tool so that providers can unlock the Reporting Hierarchy without contacting KPMG.    
  • For users who completed the 2019 Home Care Cost Report, your login credentials for the Web-based Tool will be the same log-in credentials used as last year.  
  • If a provider would like to request additional login credentials for an individual who is part of their agency or for an outside consultant who will access the Web-based Tool on their behalf, please send the request (include full name and email addresses of the individuals who should have access) to the KPMG Home Care Cost Report mailbox.  
  • An agency contracting out the direct care services should report the associated costs as allowable on the Home Care Cost Report. These costs will be reported in Column 009 (Contracted Purchased Services) within the applicable service type row on Schedule 3.   
  • An agency acting as a subcontractor should not report these services as allowable. Instead, for all schedules that require the reporting of information by service type, there is a line item for “Other non-allowable services.” The agency acting as the subcontractor for the delivery of services should report any costs related to performing the contract services in this line.  
  • DOH recommends providers use Total Operating Expenses as the basis of their allocation methodology to allocate information within the Home Care Cost Report.- If a provider is unable to use this approach, they must explicitly document the allocation methodology used (e.g., Hours of Service, Square Feet Occupied, Time Study, Salary).  
  • All supporting documentation must be uploaded via the SFTP site. Please note that this site is different from the Web-based Tool where the cost report submission is completed. — The SFTP site is linked within the “Documentation Requests” tab of the Web-based Tool.  
  • The login credentials for the SFTP site are different than the Web-based Tool login credentials. New login credentials for the SFTP site were sent on Tuesday, September 21st to those who have displayed activity in the 2020 cost report, or submitted the 2019 cost report. If a provider did not receive SFTP login credentials or requires a password reset, please send a request to the KPMG Home Care Cost Report Mailbox.
  • Supporting documentation is subject to audit and as such, providers must provide supporting documentation for all cost report schedules. To clarify the support requested and to create a more consistent process, KPMG and DOH created a supporting documentation template for each entity type (LHCSA, FI and CHHA).  
  • In the Web-based Tool, you have access to the following resources within the Instructions Tab: Cost Report Instructions (Both in the Instructions Tab drop downs and as a PDF download); Description of the 2020 Outreach Program; August 2021 Outreach Session PDF presentation and recording (for the 2020 Cost Report year); Supporting Documentation Templates – Tutorial videos for the various components of the Web-based Tool; An Excel template of the cost report schedules (for reference; not submission); and PDF presentations and recordings of the 2019 Cost Report Year outreach sessions, including the 2019 Lessons Learned Webinar.