The proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Regulations (MFAR) could result in severe Medicaid cuts to both hospitals and other providers in states that heavily rely on IGTs and provider taxes to finance the state share of Medicaid payments. CMS is accepting comments on this proposed regulation. The Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) has developed a Georgia-specific template [...]
The “Parking Tax” imposed under I.R.C. Section 512(a)(7) upon enactment of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has now been retroactively repealed under the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act signed into law on December 20, 2019. The 2019 Act repeals the highly contested unrelated business income tax on tax-exempt organization disallowed fringes [...]
The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) has communicated to providers in a memorandum dated November 21, 2019 that DCH is preparing to make interim payments for the State Fiscal Year 2020 Disproportionate Share Hospital program. Interim payments will not be provided to private hospitals due to the unavailability of state matching funds. The following [...]
The Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) has communicated the process of the SFY 2019 Upper Payment Limit (UPL) hospital payments. Payments and intergovernmental transfer amounts were provided with the notice and will be posted at https://dch.georgia.gov/. Select the following links to obtain the UPL information: Providers, Provider Types, Hospital Providers, Hospital Supplemental Reimbursement, SFY [...]
Effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2019, Medicare-Medicaid crossover claims must be charged to an expense account for uncollectible accounts to include on the cost report as a Medicare bad debt. Accounts written off to a contractual allowance account will no longer be permitted according to MLN Connects for April [...]
New Documentation Requirements for Filing Medicare Cost Reports The following documentation must be submitted with the Medicare cost report for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2018. Submissions that do not include the required documentation will be rejected for lack of supporting documentation. Teaching hospitals must include Intern and Resident Information System [...]
FY 2021 Wage Index Reviews – Documentation Requests Palmetto GBA has recently sent emails to every hospital requesting FY 2021 wage index support be submitted for review. The submission deadline (September 3, 2019) for this request coincides with each provider’s opportunity to submit any revision requests of their original as-filed wage index data. The FY [...]
FASB Issues Proposal to Delay Effective Dates to Provide Relief for Certain Entities The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued a proposed Accounting Standards Update that would grant private companies and certain not-for-profit organizations additional time to implement FASB standards on leases, current expected credit losses, and hedging. Public comment ends September 16, 2019. In [...]
Many 340B covered entities utilize entity-owned retail pharmacies to assist patients in accessing affordable medications. While there are many considerations to be considered in the operation of a retail pharmacy, one thing is very clear: If the pharmacy is owned by a 340B covered entity (CE), the pharmacy must adhere to the same 340B Program rules [...]
Low Volume Hospital Payment Adjustments for FFY 2020 The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 modified the qualifying criteria for the low volume hospital payment adjustment for fiscal years 2019 through 2022. Under the modified criteria, the payment increases are applicable for hospitals that have less than 3,800 total discharges and are located more than 15 [...]