| (a) Introduction. Beginning October 1, 2019, payments
are available under this section to help defray the uncompensated
charity-care costs incurred by eligible physician group practices
described in subsection (c) of this section. Waiver payments to physician
group practices for uncompensated care provided before October 1,
2019, are described in §355.8202 of this division (relating to
Waiver Payments to Physician Group Practices for Uncompensated Care).
Waiver payments to an eligible physician group practice must be in
compliance with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved
waiver Program Funding and Mechanics Protocol, HHSC waiver instructions,
and this section.
(b) Definitions.
(1) Allocation amount--The amount of funds approved
by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for uncompensated-care
payments for the demonstration year that is allocated to the physician
group practice uncompensated-care pool, as described in §355.8212
of this division (relating to Waiver Payments to Hospitals for Uncompensated
Charity Care).
(2) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)--The
federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human
Services responsible for overseeing and directing Medicare and Medicaid,
or its successor.
(3) Charity care--Healthcare services provided without
expectation of reimbursement to uninsured patients who meet the provider's
charity-care policy. The charity-care policy should adhere to the
charity-care principles of the Healthcare Financial Management Association
Principles and Practices Board Statement 15 (December 2012). Charity
care includes full or partial discounts given to uninsured patients
who meet the provider's financial assistance policy. Charity care
does not include bad debt, courtesy allowances, or discounts given
to patients who do not meet the provider's charity-care policy or
financial assistance policy.
(4) Demonstration year--The 12-month period beginning
October 1 for which the payments calculated under this section are
made. Demonstration year one was October 1, 2011, through September
30, 2012.
(5) Governmental entity--A state agency or a political
subdivision of the state. A governmental entity includes a hospital
authority, hospital district, city, county, or state entity.
(6) HHSC--The Texas Health and Human Services Commission
or its designee.
(7) Intergovernmental transfer (IGT)--A transfer of
public funds from a governmental entity to HHSC.
(8) Mid-Level Professional--Medical practitioners which
include the following professions only:
(A) Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists;
(B) Nurse Practitioners;
(C) Physician Assistants;
(D) Dentists;
(E) Certified Nurse Midwives;
(F) Clinical Social Workers;
(G) Clinical Psychologists; and
(H) Optometrists.
(9) Public funds--Funds derived from taxes, assessments,
levies, investments, and other public revenues within the sole and
unrestricted control of a governmental entity. Public funds do not
include gifts, grants, trusts, or donations, the use of which is conditioned
on supplying a benefit solely to the donor or grantor of the funds.
(10) Regional Healthcare Partnership (RHP)--A collaboration
of interested participants that work collectively to develop and submit
to the state a regional plan for health care delivery system reform.
Regional Healthcare Partnerships will support coordinated, efficient
delivery of quality care and a plan for investments in system transformation
that is driven by the needs of local hospitals, communities, and populations.
(11) Uncompensated-care payments--Payments intended
to defray the uncompensated costs of charity care as defined in paragraph
(3) of this subsection.
(12) Uncompensated-care physician application--A form
prescribed by HHSC to identify uncompensated costs for Medicaid-enrolled
providers.
(13) Uninsured patient--An individual who has no health
insurance or other source of third-party coverage for services, as
defined by CMS. The term includes an individual enrolled in Medicaid
who received services that do not meet the definition of medical assistance
in section 1905(a) of the Social Security Act (Medicaid services),
if such inclusion is specified in the hospital's charity-care policy
or financial assistance policy and the patient meets the hospital's
policy criteria.
(14) Waiver--The Texas Healthcare Transformation and
Quality Improvement Program Medicaid demonstration waiver under §1115
of the Social Security Act.
(c) Eligibility.
(1) A physician group practice is eligible to receive
payments under this section if:
(A) it is enrolled as a Medicaid provider in the State
of Texas at the beginning of the demonstration year;
(B) for a private physician group practice only, it
has met the submission requirements set forth in §355.8212(c)(1)(B)(iii)
of this division, only insofar as that clause relates to certifications,
and it files documents with HHSC by the date specified by HHSC, certifying
that:
(i) all funds transferred to HHSC as the non-federal
share of the waiver payments are public funds; and
(ii) no part of any payment received by the physician
group practice under this section will be returned to the governmental
entity that transferred to HHSC the non-federal share of the waiver
payments;
(C) it has submitted to HHSC an acceptable uncompensated-care
physician application for the demonstration year by the deadline specified
by HHSC; and
(D) it either:
(i) received a supplemental payment under the Texas
Medicaid State Plan for claims adjudicated in one or more months between
October 1, 2010, and September 30, 2011; or
(ii) is the successor in a contract to a physician
group practice that received a supplemental payment under the Texas
Medicaid State Plan for claims adjudicated in one or more months between
October 1, 2010, and September 30, 2011.
(2) A physician group practice that fails to submit
the required documentation in compliance with this subsection will
not receive a payment under this section.
(d) Source of funding.
(1) The non-federal share of funding for payments under
this section is limited to and obtained through IGTs from the governmental
entities that own or are affiliated with the providers in the physician
group practice uncompensated-care pool. Prior to processing uncompensated-care
payments for any payment period within a waiver demonstration year,
HHSC will survey the governmental entities that provide public funds
for the physician group practices pool to determine the amount of
funding available to support payments from that pool.
(2) An IGT that is not received by the date specified
by HHSC may not be accepted.
(e) Payment frequency. HHSC will distribute waiver
payments on a schedule to be determined by HHSC and posted on HHSC's
website.
(f) Funding limitations.
(1) Payments made under this section are limited by
the maximum amount of funds allocated to the physician group practice
uncompensated-care pool for the demonstration year as described in §355.8212
of this division. If payments for uncompensated care for the physician
group practice uncompensated-care pool attributable to a demonstration
year are expected to exceed the amount of funds allocated to that
pool by HHSC for that demonstration year, HHSC will reduce payments
to providers in the pool as described in subsection (g)(4) of this
section.
(2) Payments made under this section are limited by
the availability of funds identified in subsection (d) of this section.
If sufficient funds are not available for all payments for which all
physician group practices are eligible, HHSC will reduce payments
as described in subsection (h)(2) of this section.
(g) Uncompensated-care payment amount.
(1) Uncompensated-care physician application. Payments
to eligible physician group practices are based on cost and payment
data reported by the physician group practice on an application form
prescribed by HHSC.
(A) Cost and payment data reported by the physician
group practice in the uncompensated-care physician application is
used to:
(i) calculate the annual maximum uncompensated-care
payment amount for the applicable demonstration year, as described
in paragraph (2) of this subsection; and
(ii) reconcile the actual uncompensated-care costs
reported by the physician group practice for a prior period with uncompensated-care
waiver payments, if any, made to the practice for the same period.
The reconciliation process is more fully described in subsection (j)
of this section.
(B) Unless otherwise instructed in the uncompensated-care
physician application:
(i) the cost and payment data reported in the uncompensated-care
physician application must be consistent with Medicare cost-reporting
principles and must comply with the application instructions or other
guidance issued by HHSC, and the physician group practice must maintain
sufficient documentation to support the reported data or information;
and
(ii) the costs associated with an episode of care where
a physician group practice is paid under contract must be reduced
by any revenues associated with that episode of care prior to inclusion
in the uncompensated-care physician application.
(C) If a physician group practice withdraws from participation
in the waiver, the practice must submit an uncompensated-care application
reporting its actual costs and payments for any period during which
the practice received uncompensated-care payments. The uncompensated-care
physician application will be used for the purpose described in subparagraph
(A)(ii) of this paragraph. If a practice fails to submit the application
reporting its actual costs, HHSC will recoup the full amount of uncompensated-care
payments to the practice for the period at issue.
(2) Calculation. A physician group practice's annual
maximum uncompensated-care payment amount is the sum of the following
components:
(A) its unreimbursed charity-care costs, as reported
on the uncompensated-care physician application; and
(B) cost and payment adjustments, if any, as described
in paragraph (3) of this subsection.
(3) Adjustments. When submitting the uncompensated-care
physician application, physician group practices may request that
cost and payment data from the reporting period be adjusted to reflect
increases or decreases in costs resulting from changes in operations
or circumstances.
(A) A physician group practice may request that:
(i) costs not reflected on the financial documents
supporting the application, but which would be incurred for the demonstration
year, be included when calculating payment amounts; or
(ii) costs reflected on the financial documents supporting
the application, but which would not be incurred for the demonstration
year, be excluded when calculating payment amounts.
(B) Documentation supporting the request must accompany
the application, and provide sufficient information for HHSC to verify
the link between the changes to the provider's operations or circumstances
and the specified numbers used to calculate the amount of the adjustment.
(i) Such supporting documentation must include:
(I) a detailed description of the specific changes
to the provider's operations or circumstances;
(II) verifiable information from the provider's general
ledger, financial statements, patient accounting records or other
relevant sources that support the numbers used to calculate the adjustment;
and
(III) if applicable, a copy of any relevant contracts,
financial assistance policies or other policies/procedures that verify
the change to the provider's operations or circumstances.
(ii) HHSC will deny a request if it cannot verify that
costs not reflected on the financial documents supporting the application
will be incurred for the demonstration year.
(4) Reduction to stay within physician group practice
uncompensated-care pool allocation amount. Prior to processing uncompensated-care
payments for any payment period within a waiver demonstration year
for the physician group practice uncompensated-care pool described
in §355.8212 of this division, HHSC will determine if such a
payment would cause total uncompensated-care payments for the demonstration
year for the pool to exceed the allocation amount for the pool and
will reduce the maximum uncompensated-care payment amounts providers
in the pool are eligible to receive for that period as required to
remain within the pool allocation amount.
(A) Calculations in this paragraph are limited to the
physician group practice uncompensated-care pool.
(B) HHSC will calculate the following data points:
(i) for each provider, prior period payments to equal
prior period uncompensated-care for the demonstration year;
(ii) for each provider, a maximum uncompensated-care
payment for the payment period to equal the sum of:
(I) the portion of the annual maximum uncompensated-care
payment amount calculated for that provider (as described in this
section) that is attributable to the payment period; and
Cont'd... |
