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TITLE 1ADMINISTRATION
PART 15TEXAS HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION
CHAPTER 355REIMBURSEMENT RATES
SUBCHAPTER JPURCHASED HEALTH SERVICES
DIVISION 4MEDICAID HOSPITAL SERVICES
RULE §355.8070Hospital Augmented Reimbursement Program

(a) Introduction. This section establishes the Hospital Augmented Reimbursement (HARP) Program, wherein the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) directs payments to certain providers that serve Texas Medicaid fee-for-service patients, including eligible non-state government owned hospitals, private hospitals, state-owned hospitals, state government-owned Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMDs), and private IMDs. This section also describes the methodology used by HHSC to calculate and administer such payments. A provider is eligible for a payment under this section only if HHSC has submitted and CMS has approved a state plan amendment permitting HHSC to make payments under this section to the hospital class to which the provider belongs.

(b) Definitions. The following definitions apply when the terms are used in this section.

  (1) Fee-for-Service (FFS)--A system of the health insurance payment in which a health care provider is paid a fee by HHSC through the contracted Medicaid claims administrator directly, for each service rendered. For Texas Medicaid purposes, fee-for-service excludes any service rendered under a managed care program through a managed care organization.

  (2) Inpatient hospital services--Services ordinarily furnished in a hospital for the care and treatment of inpatients under the direction of a physician or dentist, or a subset of these services identified by HHSC. Inpatient hospital services do not include services furnished in a skilled nursing facility, intermediate care facility services furnished by a hospital with swing-bed approval, or any other services that HHSC determines should not be subject to payment.

  (3) Intergovernmental transfer (IGT)--A transfer of public funds from another state agency or a non-state governmental entity to HHSC.

  (4) Medicare payment gap--The difference between what Medicare is estimated to pay for the services and what Medicaid actually paid for the same services from the most recent FFS upper payment limit (UPL) demonstration.

  (5) Non-state government-owned and operated hospital--A hospital that is owned and operated by a local government entity, including but not limited to a city, county, or hospital district.

  (6) Outpatient hospital services--Preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, or palliative services that are furnished to outpatients of a hospital under the direction of a physician or dentist, or a subset of these services identified by HHSC.

  (7) Private hospital--Any hospital that is not government-owned and operated.

  (8) Private Institution for Mental Diseases (IMD)--A hospital that is primarily engaged in providing psychiatric diagnosis, treatment or care of individuals with mental illness and that is not government-owned and operated.

  (9) Program period--Each program period is equal to a federal fiscal year beginning October 1 and ending September 30 of the following year.

  (10) Prospective Payment System--A method of reimbursement in which payment is made based on a predetermined, fixed amount.

  (11) Sponsoring governmental entity--A state or non-state governmental entity that agrees to transfer to HHSC some or all of the non-federal share of program expenditures under this subchapter.

  (12) State government-owned hospital--Any hospital owned by the state of Texas that is not considered an IMD.

  (13) State government-owned IMD--A hospital that is primarily engaged in providing psychiatric diagnosis, treatment or care of individuals with mental illness and that is owned by the state of Texas that is considered an IMD.

(c) Participation requirements. As a condition of participation, all hospitals participating in the program must allow for the following.

  (1) The hospital must submit a properly completed enrollment application by the due date determined by HHSC. The enrollment period must be no less than 15 business days, and the final date of the enrollment period will be at least nine days prior to the intergovernmental transfer (IGT) notification.

  (2) If a provider has changed ownership in the past five years in a way that impacts eligibility for this program, the provider must submit to HHSC, upon demand, copies of contracts it has with third parties with respect to the transfer of ownership or the management of the provider and which reference the administration of, or payment from, this program.

(d) Payments for non-state government-owned and operated hospitals.

  (1) Eligible hospitals. Payments under this subsection will be limited to hospitals defined as "non-state government owned and operated hospital" that are enrolled in Medicare and participate in Texas Medicaid fee-for-service.

  (2) Non-federal share of program payments. The non-federal share of the payments is funded through IGTs from sponsoring governmental entities. No state general revenue is available to support the program.

    (A) HHSC will communicate suggested IGT responsibilities. Suggested IGT responsibilities will be based on the maximum dollars to be available under the program for the program period as determined by HHSC. HHSC will also communicate estimated revenues each enrolled hospital could earn under the program for the program period with those estimates based on HHSC's suggested IGT responsibilities.

    (B) HHSC will issue an IGT notification to specify the date that IGT is requested to be transferred not fewer than 14 business days before IGT transfers are due. HHSC may post the IGT deadlines and other associated information on HHSC's website, send the information through the established Medicaid notification procedures used by HHSC's fiscal intermediary, send through other direct mailing, send through GovDelivery, or provide the information to the hospital associations to disseminate to their member hospitals.

  (3) Payment Methodology. To determine each participating non-state government-owned and operated hospital's payment under this section, HHSC will sum the hospital's inpatient FFS Medicare payment gap and the hospital's outpatient FFS Medicare payment gap.

(e) Payments for private hospitals.

  (1) Eligible hospitals. Payments under this subsection will be limited to hospitals defined as "private hospital" in subsection (b) of this section that are enrolled in Medicare and participate in Texas Medicaid fee-for-service.

  (2) Non-federal share of program payments. The non-federal share of the payments is funded through IGTs from sponsoring governmental entities. No state general revenue is available to support the program.

    (A) HHSC must receive the non-federal portion of reimbursement for HARP through a method approved by HHSC and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for reimbursement through this program.

    (B) A hospital under this subsection must designate a single local governmental entity to provide the non-federal share of the payment through a method determined by HHSC. If the single local governmental entity transfers less than the full non-federal share of a hospital's payment amount calculated in any paragraph under this subchapter, HHSC will recalculate that specific hospital's payment based on the amount of the non-federal share actually transferred.

    (C) HHSC will communicate suggested IGT responsibilities. Suggested IGT responsibilities will be based on the maximum dollars to be available under the program for the program period as determined by HHSC. HHSC will also communicate estimated revenues each enrolled hospital could earn under the program for the program period with those estimates based on HHSC's suggested IGT responsibilities.

    (D) HHSC will issue an IGT notification to specify the date that IGT is requested to be transferred not fewer than 14 business days before IGT transfers are due. HHSC may post the IGT deadlines and other associated information on HHSC's website, send the information through the established Medicaid notification procedures used by HHSC's fiscal intermediary, send through other direct mailing, send through GovDelivery, or provide the information to the hospital associations to disseminate to their member hospitals.

  (3) Payment Methodology. To determine each participating private hospital's payment under this section, HHSC will sum the hospital's inpatient FFS Medicare payment gap and the hospital's outpatient FFS Medicare payment gap.

(f) Payments for state government-owned hospitals.

  (1) Eligible hospitals. Payments under this subsection will be limited to hospitals defined as "state government-owned hospital" in subsection (b) of this section that are enrolled in Medicare and participate in Texas Medicaid fee-for-service.

  (2) Non-federal share of program payments. The non-federal share of the payments is funded through IGTs from sponsoring governmental entities. No state general revenue is available to support the program.

Cont'd...

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