La. Admin. Code tit. 50 § XXI-705

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section XXI-705 - Rate Methodology

A. Reimbursement for the following services shall be a prospective flat rate for each approved unit of service that is provided to the participant:

1. personal care services;

2. personal care attendant services;

3. community living supports services;

4. attendant care services;

5. personal assistance services;

6. in-home respite; and

7. individual and family support services, collectively referred to as reimbursable assistance services.

B. One quarter hour (15 minutes) shall be the standard unit of service. Reimbursement shall not be paid for the provision of less than one quarter hour (15 minutes) of service.

C. Effective July 1, 2016, a rate validation process occurred to determine the sufficiency of reimbursement rates. This process will be repeated at a minimum of every two years thereafter. The rate validation process will involve the comparison of current provider reimbursement rates to reimbursement rates established using the department's reimbursement methodology.

1. The department's reimbursement methodology will establish an estimated reimbursement rate through the summation of the following two rate component totals:

a. adjusted staff cost rate component; and

b. other operational cost rate component.

2. The adjusted staff cost rate component will be determined in the following manner.

a. Direct service worker wage expense, contract labor expense, and hours worked for reimbursable assistance services will be collected from provider cost reports.

i. Collected wage and contract labor expense will be divided by collected hours worked, on an individual cost report basis, to determine a per hour labor rate for direct service workers.

ii. The individual cost report hourly labor rates will be aggregated for all applicable filed cost reports, outliers will be removed, and a simple average statewide labor rate will be determined.

b. A blended direct service worker labor rate will be calculated by comparing the simple average statewide labor rate to the most recently available, as of the calculation of the department's rate validation process, average personal care aide wage rate from the Louisiana Occupational Employment and Wages report for all Louisiana parishes published by the Louisiana Workforce Commission (or its successor).

i. If the simple average statewide labor rate is less than the wage rate from the Louisiana Occupational Employment and Wages report, a blended wage rate will be calculated using 50 percent of both wage rates.

ii. If the simple average statewide labor rate is equal to or greater than the wage rate from the Louisiana Occupational Employment and Wages report, the simple average statewide labor rate will be utilized.

c. An employee benefit factor will be added to the blended direct service worker wage rate to determine the unadjusted hourly staff cost.

i. Employee benefit expense allocated to reimbursable assistance services will be collected from provider cost reports.

ii. Employee benefit expense, on an individual cost report basis, will be divided by the cost report direct service wage and contract labor expense for reimbursable assistance services to calculate employee benefits as a percentage of labor costs.

iii. The individual cost report employee benefit percentages will be aggregated for all applicable filed cost reports, outliers will be removed, and a simple average statewide employee benefit percentage will be determined.

iv. The simple average statewide employee benefit percentage will be multiplied by the blended direct service worker labor rate to calculate the employee benefit factor.

d. The department will be solely responsible for determining if adjustments to the unadjusted hourly staff cost for items that are underrepresented or not represented in provider cost reports is considered appropriate.

e. The unadjusted hourly staff cost will be multiplied by a productive hours' adjustment to calculate the hourly adjusted staff cost rate component total. The productive hours' adjustment allows the reimbursement rate to reflect the cost associated with direct service worker time spent performing required non-billable activities. The productive hours' adjustment will be calculated as follows.

i. The department will determine estimates for the amount of time a direct service worker spends performing required non-billable activities during an eight hour period. Examples of non-billable time include, but are not limited to: meetings, substitute staff, training, wait-time, supervising, etc.

ii. The total time associated with direct service worker non-billable activities will be subtracted from eight hours to determine direct service worker total billable time.

iii. Eight hours will be divided by the direct service worker total billable time to calculate the productive hours' adjustment.

3. The other operational cost rate component will be calculated in the following manner.

a. Capital expense, transportation expense, other direct non-labor expense, and other overhead expense allocated to reimbursable assistance services will be collected from provider cost reports.

b. Capital expense, transportation expense, supplies, and other direct non-labor expense, and other overhead expense, on an individual cost report basis, will be divided by the cost report direct service wage and contract labor expense for reimbursable assistance services to calculate other operational costs as a percentage of labor costs.

c. The individual cost report other operational cost percentages will be aggregated for all applicable filed cost reports, outliers will be removed, and a simple average statewide other operational cost percentage will be determined.

d. The simple average other operational cost percentage will be multiplied by the blended direct service worker labor rate to calculate the other operational cost rate component.

4. The calculated department reimbursement rates will be adjusted to a one quarter hour unit of service by dividing the hourly adjusted staff cost rate component and the hourly other operational cost rate component totals by four.

5. The department will be solely responsible for determining the sufficiency of the current reimbursement rates during the rate validation process. Any reimbursement rate change deemed necessary due to rate validation process will be subject to legislative budgetary appropriation restrictions prior to implementation.

La. Admin. Code tit. 50, § XXI-705

Promulgated by the Department of Health, Bureau of Health Services Financing, the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities and the Office of Aging and Adult Services, LR 471112 (8/1/2021).

This Section was previously numbered LAC 50:XXI.703 and complies with Act 299 of the 2011 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature.

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 36:254 and Title XIX of the Social Security Act.