| would be any course required to be taken by a
licensed vocational nurse (LVN) working toward a degree as a registered
nurse (RN) where RN services are necessary to deliver services as
required under the contract.
(-b-) Related party staff. Allowable costs are restricted
to specific courses which have a direct relationship with the employee's
job responsibilities. Examples of allowable staff training costs include
tuition, books, and related fees for an accounting course for a bookkeeper
and a management course for a supervisor. However, a history course
for a bookkeeper, even though it may be a requirement for a college
degree in accounting or business, is unallowable.
(II) be located within the state of Texas unless the
purpose of the training is for staff training in contracted client
care-related services or quality assurance which is not available
in the state of Texas. All costs for training outside the continental
United States are unallowable costs. For further guidelines regarding
adequate documentation, refer to §355.105(b)(2)(B)(vi) of this
title.
(ii) Staff training may be conducted within the provider
setting or off-site. It may be operated by the contracted provider,
provided by an accredited academic or technical institution, or conducted
by a recognized professional organization for the particular training
activity. Workshops on particular contracted client services, health
applications, on-the-job safety, data processing, accounting, the
Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) programmatic or
cost related training, supervisory techniques, and other administrative
activities are examples of allowable types of training. Costs of orientation,
on-the-job training, and in-service training are recognized as normal
operating costs and are allowable training costs.
(iii) For staff training conducted within the provider
setting, allowable training costs include, but are not limited to,
instructor and consultant fees, training supplies, and visual aids.
For off-site training, allowable costs include costs such as allowable
travel costs, registration fees, seminar supplies, and classroom costs.
For additional guidelines regarding allowable travel costs, please
refer to subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.
(iv) Staff training costs must be reported as net costs,
having been offset by any reimbursement from grants, tuitions, or
donations received for staff educational purposes.
(v) For information regarding nursing facility nurse
aide training, refer to paragraph (20)(K) of this subsection and program-specific
reimbursement methodology rules.
(vi) For guidelines on allowability for client prevocational,
vocational, and educational costs, refer to program-specific reimbursement
methodology rules for guidelines on allowability.
(B) Travel costs.
(i) Maximum allowable travel costs for allowable activities
are as follows:
(I) 150% of the limits established by the Texas Legislature
for non-exempt state employees, with respect to hotel costs and per
diem rates; and
(II) the maximum allowable mileage reimbursement amount
set by the Texas Legislature for non-exempt state employees.
(ii) Out-of-state travel costs are unallowable, unless
the purpose of the travel is for staff training in contracted client-care-related
services or in quality assurance which is not available in the state
of Texas; the purpose of delivering direct contracted client services
within 25 miles of the Texas border with adjoining states or Mexico;
or the purpose for the travel is to conduct business related to contracted
client services in Texas and the travel is between Texas and the contracted
provider's central office. All costs for travel outside the continental
United States are unallowable costs, with the singular exception of
travel required for the delivery of direct contracted client services
within 25 miles of the Texas-Mexico border.
(iii) Expenses for private aircraft are allowable only
if:
(I) written documentation supporting the calculations
for expenses for private aircraft and commercial alternatives, and
flight logs are maintained as specified in §355.105(b)(2)(B)(iii)
of this title; and
(II) the documentation demonstrates that the expenses
for travel via private aircraft were not greater than those for commercial
alternatives at the time the travel took place. If the expenses for
private aircraft were greater than the documented costs for commercial
alternatives at the time the travel took place, allowable private
aircraft costs are limited to the documented costs for commercial
alternatives.
(16) Advertising and public relations.
(A) Allowable advertising and public relations include:
(i) costs of advertising to meet statutory or regulatory
requirements, such as program standards, rules, or contract requirements;
(ii) informational listings of contracted providers
in a telephone directory, including yellow page listings up to one-eighth
of a page per telephone directory in the provider's service area or
in a directory of similar facilities in a given area are allowable
if the listings are consistent with practices that are common and
accepted in the industry;
(iii) costs of advertising for the purpose of recruiting
necessary personnel are allowable costs. Refer to the definition of
necessary in §355.102(f)(2) of this title;
(iv) costs of advertising for procurement of items
related to contracted client care, and for sale or disposition of
surplus or scrap material are treated as adjustments of the purchase
or selling price; and
(v) costs of advertising incurred in connection with
obtaining bids for construction or renovation of the contracted provider's
facilities should be included in the capitalized cost of the asset.
Refer to paragraph (10) of this subsection.
(B) Unallowable advertising and public relations include:
(i) costs of advertising of a general nature designed
to invite physicians to utilize a contracted provider's facilities
in their capacity as independent practitioners;
(ii) costs of advertising incurred in connection with
the issuance of a contracted provider's own stock, or the sale of
stock held by the contracted provider in another corporation considered
as reductions in the proceeds from the sale;
(iii) costs of advertising to the general public which
seeks to increase client utilization of the contracted provider's
facilities;
(iv) public relations costs;
(v) any business promotional advertising; and
(vi) costs of the development of logos or other company
identification.
(17) Promotional and fundraising activities. Promotional
refers to any activity whose intent is to advertise or aid in the
development of the business. Expenses relating to fundraising and
promotional activities are unallowable, including salaries, benefits,
and payroll taxes for staff performing these activities. If a staff
member performs these activities along with allowable activities,
a portion of that staff member's salary must be allocated to these
unallowable activities and as such not be reported on the cost report.
Other expenses associated with these activities are also unallowable,
including advertising, publicity, travel, and meals.
(18) Grants, gifts, and income from endowments and
operating revenue.
(A) Restricted grants, gifts, and income from endowments
from private sources used to purchase allowable program costs should
not be deducted and offset from allowable costs prior to reporting
on the cost report.
(B) Grants and contracts from federal, state or local
government, such as transportation grants, United States Department
of Agriculture grants, education grants, Housing and Urban Development
grants, and Community Service Block Grants, should be offset, prior
to reporting on the cost report, against the particular cost or group
of costs for which the grant was intended. If federal funds are paid
for the care of a specified client, those federal funds should not
be offset prior to reporting on the cost report, unless otherwise
specified in the program-specific reimbursement methodology rules.
(C) Unrestricted grants, gifts, and income from endowments
from private sources used to purchase allowable program items should
not be offset by the contracted provider prior to reporting on the
cost report. All unrestricted funds which are properly allocable to
the cost report should be reported on a contracted provider's cost
report, as well as any allowable costs to which the unrestricted funds
were applied.
Cont'd... |
