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TITLE 1ADMINISTRATION
PART 15TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION
CHAPTER 355REIMBURSEMENT RATES
SUBCHAPTER ACOST DETERMINATION PROCESS
RULE §355.105General Reporting and Documentation Requirements, Methods, and Procedures

employees eligible for receipt of this benefit.

        (III) Providers who self insure must also maintain documentation that supports the amount of claims paid each year and any allowable costs to be carried forward to future cost-reporting periods.

      (x) Providers who self insure for all or part of their coverage for nonemployee-related insurance, such as malpractice insurance, comprehensive general liability, and property insurance, must maintain documentation for each cost-reporting period to establish what their premium costs would have been had they purchased commercial insurance for total coverage. The documentation should include, at a minimum, bids from two commercial carriers. Bids must be obtained no less frequently than every three years. Providers who self insure must also maintain documentation that supports the amount of claims paid each year and any allowable costs to be carried forward to future cost-reporting periods. Governmental providers must document the existence of their claims management and risk management programs.

      (xi) Regarding compensation of owners and related parties, providers must maintain the following documentation, at a minimum, for each owner or related party: a detailed written description of actual duties, functions, and responsibilities; documentation substantiating that the services performed are not duplicative of services performed by other employees; time sheets or other documentation verifying the hours and days worked; the amount of total compensation paid for these duties, with a breakdown detailing regular salary, overtime, bonuses, benefits, and other payments; documentation of regular, periodic payments and/or accruals of the compensation, documentation that the compensation is subject to payroll or self-employment taxes; and a detailed allocation worksheet indicating how the total compensation was allocated across business components receiving the benefit of these duties.

        (I) Regarding bonuses paid to owners and related parties, the provider must maintain clearly defined bonus policies in its written agreements with employees or in its overall employment policy. At a minimum, the bonus policy must include the basis for distributing the bonuses including qualifications for receiving the bonus, and how the amount of each bonus is calculated. Other documentation must specify who received bonuses, whether the persons receiving bonuses are owners, related parties, or arm's-length employees, and the bonus amount received by each individual.

        (II) Regarding benefits provided to owners and related parties, the provider must maintain clearly defined benefit policies in its written agreements with employees or in its overall employment policy. At a minimum, the documentation must include the basis for eligibility for each type of benefit available, who is eligible to receive each type of benefit, who actually receives each type of benefit, whether the persons receiving each type of benefit are owners, related parties, or arm's-length employees, and the amount of each benefit received by each individual.

      (xii) Regarding all forms of compensation, providers must maintain documentation for each employee which clearly identifies each compensation component, including regular pay, overtime pay, incentive pay, mileage reimbursements, bonuses, sick leave, vacation, other paid leave, deferred compensation, retirement contributions, provider-paid instructional courses, health insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, and any other form of compensation. Types of documentation would include insurance policies; provider benefit policies; records showing paid leave accrued and taken; documentation to support hours (regular and overtime) worked and wages paid; and mileage logs or other documentation to support mileage reimbursements and travel allowances. For accrued benefits, the documentation must clearly identify the period of the accrual. For example, if an employee accrues two weeks of vacation during 20x1 and receives the corresponding vacation pay during 20x3, that employee's compensation documentation for 20x3 should clearly indicate that the vacation pay received had been accrued during 20x1.

        (I) For staff required to maintain continuous daily time sheets as per §355.102(j) of this title and subclause (II) of this clause, the daily timesheet must document, for each day, the staff member's start time, stop time, total hours worked, and the actual time worked (in increments of 30 minutes or less) providing direct services for the provider, the actual time worked performing other functions, and paid time off. The employee must sign each timesheet. The employee's supervisor must sign the timesheets each payroll period or at least monthly. Work schedules are unacceptable documentation for staff whose duties include multiple direct service types, both direct and indirect service component types, and both direct hands-on support and first level supervision of direct care workers.

        (II) For the Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with an Intellectual Disability or Related Conditions (ICF/IID), Home and Community-based Services (HCS) and Texas Home Living (TxHmL) programs, staff required to maintain continuous daily timesheets include staff whose duties include multiple direct service types, both direct and indirect service component types and/or both direct hands-on support and first-level supervision of direct care workers.

      (xiii) Management fees paid to related parties must be documented as to the actual costs of the related party for materials, supplies, and services provided to the individual provider, and upon which the management fees were based. If the cost to the related party includes owner compensation or compensation to related parties, documentation guidelines for those costs are specified in clause (xi) of this subparagraph. Documentation must be maintained that indicates stated objectives, periodic assessment of those objectives, and evaluation of the progress toward those objectives.

      (xiv) For central office and/or home office costs, documentation must be maintained that indicates the organization of the business entity, including position, titles, functions, and compensation. For multi-state organizations, documentation must be maintained that clearly defines the relationship of costs associated with any level of management above the individual Texas contracted entity which are allocated to the individual Texas contracted entity.

      (xv) Documentation regarding depreciable assets includes, at a minimum, historical cost, date of purchase, depreciable basis, estimated useful life, accumulated depreciation, and the calculation of gains and losses upon disposal.

      (xvi) Providers must maintain documentation clearly itemizing their employee relations expenditures. For employee entertainment expenses, documentation must show the names of all persons participating, along with classification of the person attending, such as employee, nonemployee, owner, family of employee, client, or vendor.

      (xvii) Adequate documentation substantiating the offsetting of grants and contracts from federal, state, or local governments prior to reporting either the net expenses or net revenue must be maintained by the provider. As specified in §355.103(b)(18) of this title, such offsetting is required prior to reporting on the cost report. The provider must maintain written documentation as to the purpose for which the restricted revenue was received and the offsetting of the restricted revenue against the allowable and unallowable costs for which the restricted revenue was used.

      (xviii) During the course of an audit or an audit desk review, the provider must furnish any reasonable documentation requested by HHSC auditors within ten working days of the request or a later date as specified by the auditors. If the provider does not present the requested material within the specified time, the audit or audit desk review is closed, and HHSC automatically disallows the costs in question.

      (xix) Any expense that cannot be adequately documented or substantiated is disallowed. HHSC is not responsible for the contracted provider's failure to adequately document and substantiate reported costs.

      (xx) Any cost report that is determined unauditable through a field audit or that cannot have its costs verified through a desk review will not be used in the reimbursement determination process.

  (3) Cost report and methodology certification. Providers must certify the accuracy of cost reports submitted to HHSC in the format specified by HHSC. Providers may be liable for civil and/or criminal penalties if the cost report is not completed according to HHSC requirements or is determined to contain misrepresented or falsified information. Cost report preparers must certify that they read the cost determination process rules, the reimbursement methodology rules, the cost report cover letter and cost report instructions, and that they understand that the cost report must be prepared in accordance with the cost determination process rules, the reimbursement methodology rules and cost report instructions. Not all persons who contributed to the completion of the cost report must sign the certification page. However, the certification page must be signed by a responsible party with direct knowledge of the preparation of the Cont'd...

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