Last week, the state Department of Health (DOH) sent a Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) to inform providers about a revised schedule for implementing the new home care cost report. The state also held a meeting of the Home Care Cost Report Workgroup, of which HCA and some HCA members are participants, to update members on the cost report-related education activities.
The DAL summarizes a new schedule of work, including:
- A Home Care Cost Report Relaunch Session on May 27 from 2 to 3 p.m. Log-in is here. Dial-in information is 888-780-9651 with the following passcode: 8974716. No advance registration is required but participants should join the meeting 15 minutes prior to the start.
- A Cost Report Initial Statewide Outreach Session on June 2 from 2 to 4 p.m. Log-in is here. Dial-in information is 888-780-9651 with the following passcode: 8974716. No advance registration is required but participants should join the meeting 15 minutes prior to the start.
- Log-in credentials will be given to providers for the cost report web-based tool on June 3.
- Web-based tool walk-through videos will be made available in early June.
- Monthly statewide outreach sessions will occur June through October.
- An audit webinar will occur in mid-August.
- A lessons-learned webinar will occur in January 2021
The new cost report, which will be for non-hospital based Certified Home Health Agencies (CHHAs), Licensed Home Care Services Agencies (LHCSAs) and Fiscal Intermediaries (FIs), will be due October 31.
According to the DAL, providers not required to complete the new cost report include LHCSAs that only serve Assisted Living Program residents, private pay agencies, and hospital-based CHHAs.
At the workgroup meeting, HCA requested that the audit webinar be held earlier than the originally scheduled mid-October timeframe so home care providers could understand the audit process prior to completing the report. HCA also confirmed that agencies who submit incomplete data won’t be penalized on surveys/audits and DOH will convey that information to the state Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG).
HCA has provided extensive coverage about this new cost report. We’ve raised many concerns with DOH that necessitate further delays in the due date, including: agency systems that don’t track data needed for the new cost report and that will require time and resources to change; the strains agencies are facing under the COVID-19 pandemic; resources that agencies need to commit to completing the LHCSA Statistical Report which is due in mid-November; the recent FI request for offers (RFO) process and upcoming LHCSA authorization process that will reduce the number of FIs and LHCSAs; daily COVID-19 surveys required by DOH; provider and managed care plan funding reductions and the long term care changes enacted in the 2020-21 state budget; and more.