WSR 15-01-188 PROPOSED RULES HEALTH CARE AUTHORITY
(Washington Apple Health)
[Filed December 23, 2014, 5:33 p.m.]
Original Notice.
Preproposal statement of inquiry was filed as WSR 14-08-100.
Title of Rule and Other Identifying Information: WAC 182-549-1500 Rural health clinics—Change in scope of service.
Hearing Location(s): Health Care Authority (HCA), Cherry Street Plaza Building, Sue Crystal Conference Room 106B, 626 8th Avenue, Olympia, WA 98504 (metered public parking is available street side around building. A map is available at http://www.hca.wa.gov/documents/directions_to_csp.pdf or directions can be obtained by calling (360) 725-1000), on January 27, 2015, at 10:00 a.m.
Date of Intended Adoption: Not sooner than January 28, 2015.
Submit Written Comments to: HCA Rules Coordinator, P.O. Box 45504, Olympia, WA 98504-5504, delivery 626 8th Avenue, Olympia, WA 98504, e-mail arc@hca.wa.gov, fax (360) 586-9727, by 5:00 p.m., on January 27, 2015.
Assistance for Persons with Disabilities: Contact Kelly Richters by January 19, 2015, TTY (800) 848-5429 or (360) 725-1307 or e-mail kelly.richters@hca.wa.gov.
Purpose of the Proposal and Its Anticipated Effects, Including Any Changes in Existing Rules: The agency is modifying when a change in a rural health clinic's services constitutes a change in scope of services.
Reasons Supporting Proposal: See Purpose statement above.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 41.05.021, 41.05.160.
Statute Being Implemented: RCW 41.05.021, 41.05.160.
Rule is not necessitated by federal law, federal or state court decision.
Name of Proponent: HCA, governmental.
Name of Agency Personnel Responsible for Drafting: Amy Emerson, P.O. Box 42716, Olympia, WA 98504-2716, (360) 725-1348; Implementation and Enforcement: Madina Cavendish, P.O. Box 45500, Olympia, WA 98504-5500, (360) 725-1486.
No small business economic impact statement has been prepared under chapter 19.85 RCW. The agency has analyzed the proposed rule and concludes that it does not impose more than minor costs for affected small businesses.
A cost-benefit analysis is not required under RCW 34.05.328. RCW 34.05.328 does not apply to HCA rules unless requested by the joint administrative rules review committee or applied voluntarily.
December 23, 2015 [2014]
Kevin M. Sullivan
Rules Coordinator
AMENDATORY SECTION (Amending WSR 11-14-075, filed 6/30/11, effective 7/1/11)
WAC 182-549-1500 Rural health clinics—Change in scope of service rate adjustment.
(((1) For clinics reimbursed under the prospective payment system (PPS), the department considers a rural health clinic's (RHC) change in scope of service to be a change in the type, intensity, duration, and/or amount of services provided by the RHC. Changes in scope of service apply only to covered medicaid services.
(a) When the department determines that a change in scope of service has occurred after the base year, the department will adjust the RHC's encounter rate to reflect the change.
(b) RHCs must:
(i) Notify the department's RHC program manager in writing, at the address published in the department's rural health clinic billing instructions, of any changes in scope of service no later than sixty days after the effective date of the change; and
(ii) Provide the department with all relevant and requested documentation pertaining to the change in scope of service.
(c) The department adjusts the encounter rate to reflect the change in scope of service using one or more of the following:
(i) A medicaid comprehensive desk review of the RHC's cost report;
(ii) Review of a medicare audit of the RHC's cost report; or
(iii) Other documentation relevant to the change in scope of service.
(d) The adjusted encounter rate will be effective on the date the change of scope of service is effective.
(2) For clinics reimbursed under the alternative payment methodology (APM), the department considers an RHC change in scope of service to be a change in the type of services provided by the RHC. The department addresses changes in intensity, duration, and/or amount of services in the next scheduled encounter rate rebase. Changes in scope of service apply only to covered medicaid services.
(a) When the department determines that a change in scope of service has occurred after the base year, the department adjusts the RHC's encounter rate to reflect the change.
(b) RHCs must:
(i) Notify the department's RHC program manager in writing, at the address published in the department's rural health clinic billing instructions, of any changes in scope of service no later than sixty calendar days after the effective date of the change; and
(ii) Provide the department with all relevant and requested documentation pertaining to the change in scope of service.
(c) The department adjusts the encounter rate to reflect the change in scope of service using one or more of the following:
(i) A medicaid comprehensive desk review of the RHC's cost report;
(ii) Review of a medicare audit of the RHC's cost report, if available; or
(iii) Other documentation relevant to the change in scope of service.
(d) The adjusted encounter rate will be effective on the date the change of scope of service is effective.)) In accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1396a (bb)(3)(B), the agency will adjust its payment rate to a rural health clinic (RHC) to take into account any increase or decrease in the scope of the RHC's services. The remainder of this section describes the procedures and requirements for any such rate adjustment.
(1) Triggering events.
(a) An RHC may file a change in scope of services rate adjustment application on its own initiative only when:
(i) The cost to the RHC of providing covered health care services to eligible clients has increased due to one or more of the following:
(A) A change in the type of health care services the RHC provides;
(B) A change in the intensity of health care services the RHC provides. Intensity means the total quantity of labor and materials consumed by an individual client during an average encounter has increased;
(C) A change in the duration of health care services the RHC provides. Duration means the length of an average encounter has increased;
(D) A change in the amount of health care services the RHC provides in an average encounter;
(E) Any change comparable to (a)(i)(A) through (D) of this subsection in which the type, intensity, duration or amount of services has decreased and the cost of an average encounter has decreased; and
(ii) The cost change equals or exceeds:
(A) An increase of one and three-quarters percent in the prospective payment system (PPS) rate per encounter over one year as measured by comparing the cost per encounter to the then current PPS rate;
(B) A decrease of two and one-half percent in the PPS rate per encounter over one year as measured by comparing the cost per encounter to the then current PPS rate; or
(C) A cumulative increase or decrease of five percent in the PPS rate per encounter as compared to the current year's cost per encounter; and
(iii) The costs reported to the agency to support the proposed change in scope rate adjustment are reasonable under state and federal law.
(b) At any time, the agency may instruct the RHC to file a cost report with a statement of whether the RHC asserts that its PPS rate should be increased or decreased due to a change in the scope of services (the RHC "position statement").
(i) The RHC must file a completed cost report and position statement no later than ninety calendar days after receiving the instruction from the agency to file an application;
(ii) The RHC's cost report and position statement will be reviewed under the same criteria listed above for an application for a change in scope adjustment;
(iii) The agency will not request more than one change in scope in a calendar year.
(2) Filing requirements.
(a) In general. The RHC may apply for a prospective change in scope of service rate adjustment, a retrospective change in scope of service rate adjustment, or both, in a single application.
(i) Unless instructed to file an application by the agency, the RHC may file no more than one change in scope of service application per calendar year; however, more than one type of change in scope may be included in a single application.
(ii) The RHC must file for a change in scope of service rate adjustment no later than ninety days after the end of the calendar year in which the RHC believes the change in scope occurred or in which the RHC learned that the cost threshold in subsection (1)(a)(ii) of this section was met, whichever is later.
(b) Prospective change in scope.
(i) To file a prospective change in scope of service rate adjustment application, the RHC must submit projected costs sufficient to establish an interim rate. A prospective change is a change the RHC plans to implement in the future. The interim rate adjustment will go into effect after the change takes effect.
(ii) The interim rate is subject to the post change in scope review and rate adjustment process defined in subsection (5) of this section.
(iii) If the change in scope occurs fewer than ninety days after the RHC submitted a complete application to the agency, the interim rate must take effect no later than ninety days after the complete application was submitted to the agency.
(iv) If the change in scope occurs more than ninety days but fewer than one hundred eighty days after the RHC submitted a complete application to the agency, the interim rate takes effect when the change in scope occurs.
(v) If the RHC fails to implement a change in service identified in its prospective change in scope of service rate adjustment application within one hundred eighty days, the application is void and the RHC may resubmit the application to the agency, notwithstanding (a)(i) of this subsection.
(c) Retrospective change in scope.
(i) A retrospective change in scope of service rate adjustment application must state each qualifying event listed in subsection (1)(a)(i) of this section that supports its application and include twelve months of data documenting the cost change caused by the qualifying event. A retrospective change in scope is a change that took place in the past and the RHC is seeking to adjust its rate based on that change.
(ii) If approved, a retrospective rate adjustment takes effect on the date the RHC filed the application with the agency.
(3) Supporting documentation.
(a) To apply for a change in scope of service rate adjustment, the RHC must include the following documentation in the application:
(i) A narrative description of the proposed change in scope;
(ii) A description of each cost center on the cost report that was or will be affected by the change in scope;
(iii) The RHC's most recent audited financial statements, if audit is required by federal law;
(iv) The implementation date for the proposed change in scope; and
(v) Any additional documentation requested by the agency.
(b) A prospective change in scope of service rate adjustment application must also include projected medicare cost report with supplemental schedules necessary to identify the medicaid cost per visit for the twelve-month period following implementation of the change in scope.
(c) A retrospective change in scope of service rate adjustment application must also include the medicare cost report with supplemental schedules necessary to identify the medicaid cost per visit and encounter data for twelve months or the fiscal year following implementation of the proposed change in scope.
(4) Review of the application.
(a) Application processing.
(i) The agency must review the application for completeness, accuracy, and compliance with program rules.
(ii) Within sixty days of receiving the application, the agency must notify the RHC of any deficient documentation or request any additional information that is necessary to process the application.
(iii) Within ninety days of receiving a complete application, the agency must send the RHC:
(A) A decision stating whether it will implement a PPS rate change; and
(B) A rate-setting statement.
(iv) Failure to act within ninety days will mean that the change is deemed denied by the agency and the RHC may appeal the decision as provided for in subsection (6) of this section.
(b) Determining rate for change in scope.
(i) The agency must set an interim rate for prospective changes in scope by adjusting the RHC's existing rate by the projected average cost per encounter of any approved change. The agency will review the costs to determine if they are reasonable, and set a new interim rate based on the determined cost per encounter.
(ii) The agency must set an adjusted encounter rate for retrospective changes in scope by adjusting the RHC's existing rate by the documented average cost per encounter of the approved change. Projected costs per encounter may be used if there are insufficient historical data to establish the rate. The agency will review the costs to determine whether they are reasonable, and set a new rate based on the determined cost per encounter.
(c) If the RHC is paid under an alternative payment methodology (APM), any change in scope of service rate adjustment requested by the RHC will modify the PPS rate in addition to the APM.
(d) The agency may delegate the duties related to application processing and rate setting to a third party. The agency retains final authority for making decisions related to changes in scope.
(5) Post change in scope of services rate adjustment review.
(a) If the change in scope application was based on a year or more of actual encounter data, the agency may conduct a post change in scope rate adjustment review.
(b) If the change in scope application was based on less than a full year of actual encounter data, the RHC must submit the following information to the agency within eighteen months of the effective date of the rate adjustment:
(i) Medicare cost report with supplemental schedules necessary to identify the medicaid cost per visit and encounter data for twelve consecutive months of experience following implementation of the change in scope; and
(ii) Any additional documentation requested by the agency.
(c) The agency will conduct the post change in scope review within ninety days of receiving the cost report and encounter data from the RHC.
(d) If necessary, the agency will adjust the encounter rate within ninety days to ensure that the rate reflects the reasonable cost of the change in scope of services.
(e) A rate adjustment based on a post change in scope review will take effect on the date the agency issues its adjustment. The new rate will be prospective.
(f) If the RHC fails to submit the post change in scope cost report or related encounter data, the agency must provide written notice to the clinic of the deficiency within thirty days.
(g) If the RHC fails to submit required documentation within five months of this deficiency notice, the agency may reinstate the prechange in scope encounter rate going forward from the date the interim rate was established. Any overpayment to the RHC may be recouped by the agency.
(6) Appeals. Appeals of agency action under this section are governed by WAC 182-502-0220, except that any rate change begins on the date the agency received the change in scope of services rate adjustment application.
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