July 18, 2001
MB-AASA-AAA/HCS/DDD/RCS-01- 23
MANAGEMENT
BULLETIN
TO: Area Agency on Aging Directors
Home and Community
Services Regional Administrators
Division of
Developmental Disabilities Regional Administrators
SUBJECT: VENDOR
RATE INCREASES EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2001
This is
to provide you with information on Home and Community Services vendor rate
increases authorized by the Legislature to be effective July 1, 2001. These enhancements include a wage increase
for agency and individual providers, residential care providers, and a 2.1%
across-the-board increase for all Home and Community services. To implement these increases, SSPS will run
a transaction generator the weekend following the June 2001 SSPS deadline. SSPS will automatically increase rates to
the July 1, 2001 rate as listed on the attachment. This automatic increase will affect all authorizations that are
at the January 1, 2001 published rate as displayed on the AASAWEB site http://198.238.3.28 and have an end date later than June 30, 2001.
It will
be necessary to change some authorizations by hand to reflect these
legislatively approved increases.
Information on authorizations that may have to be done manually is
outlined below.
For
rates that can be authorized within a range, the SSPS transaction generator
will not increase the upper limit of the range. Rates that fit this description are:
5239
COPES Home Delivered Meals
5241
COPES Home Health Aide
5243 COPES Skilled Nursing
5247
COPES Client Training
Rates authorized for the SSPS Service Codes listed
above will have to be adjusted manually to reflect a 2.1% increase.
Each
reporting unit will receive a DSHS 14-159 and Transaction Listing, SSPS 017,
showing increases processed by SSPS effective July 1, 2001. Compare this transaction listing with the
June 30, 2001 Client Listing by Service report (SSPS 041) to verify rates were
increased.
To aid
you in establishing the correct rate for assisted living authorizations that
were not included in the SSPS transaction generator, a complete listing of
facilities and the July 1, 2001 rates for each level of care is available on
the Intranet AASA HOME PAGE. You can
access this listing by typing http://198.238.3.28,
click on "MSD", then
"ORM Home", then "Home and Community Rates". This
site includes rate information for all Home and Community based services.
Select "Assisted Living Rates by
Facility" to display an alphabetical listing of all Assisted Living
Facilities and their rates.
In-home
agency and individual provider services authorized with SSPS service codes that
use hours as a unit will be automatically increased to implement the new
minimum hourly rates. All in-home
agency hourly rates are $13.30 and individual provider hourly rates are $7.68
effective July 1, 2001.
Remember, the purpose of funding these new minimums
is to assure the direct care workers receives
a wage increase. The in-home agency
provider rate increase of .68/hr is to give an average wage increase of .50/hr across the identified
eligible employee group. Thegive
the direct care worker .50/hr and remaining .18/hr is to be utilized to
pay the employer share of unemployment and social security taxes on the associated wage
increases,
and to pay for other general administration costs. to
cover increased payroll taxes associated with the worker wage increase and
administration. The budget proviso does not require that each
worker get the same increase. It is up to the provider and the AAA how the
resources are distributed, provided the increase, in aggregate, has
gone to direct care worker wages.
The AAA must require the provider to demonstrate that its
salary policy and schedules have been adjusted in accordance with the new wage
requirements. The AAA must also monitor to assure that those policies have
been implemented in a way that complies with the legislation. AAA’s should
continue to stipulate in contract that misused funds could be recaptured. The new vendor rate
will be the same for all providers throughout the state.
The new
hourly rate will have to be calculated by hand for all authorizations stated in
monthly units other than the published rate of $1,321.12 (SSPS code 5254) or
stated in daily units other than the published rate of $43.46 (SSPS code 5253). See examples,
Example 1: Client A is authorized a monthly rate of $1,400.10 using SSPS service code 95254
Divide $1400.10 by $7.18 (the 7/1/00-6/30/01 hourly rate)
Multiply the resulting number of hours (195) by $7.68 (the
7/1/01-6/30/02 hourly rate). The monthly rate effective 7/1/01 will
equal $1497.60.
Example 2: Client B is authorized a daily rate of $50.00 using SSPS code
95253
Divide $50.00 by
$7.18 (the 7/1/00-6/30/01 hourly rate)
Multiply the resulting number of hours (6.963) by $7.68 (the
7/1/01-6/30/02 hourly rate). The daily
rate effective 7/1/01 will equal $53.48.
For
adult family home (AFH), adult residential care (ARC), and enhanced adult
residential care (EARC) services authorized under the four level payment system
after July 1, 2000 the rate will be automatically adjusted to reflect the
low-wage earner and 2.1% increase if the June 30, 2001 authorization was set at
the January 1, 2001 published rate as displayed on the AASAWEB site http://198.238.3.28. The rate effective July 1, 2001 is included
in the attachment. For exceptional
rates in residential settings, rate increases are only granted for AFH, ARC,
and EARC services authorized after June 30, 2000 at a rate exceeding the level
four January 1, 2001 published rate.
Adjustment of the published amount portion of the rate will have to be
made by hand. See example 3 below.
Example
3: Client C is
level four in a Non-MSA County and authorized a flexible rate above the level
four published amount.
Level Four Published Rate (1/1/01) $63.09/Day
Flexible Rate Add-On $16.44/Day
Authorized Amount $79.53/Day
Level Four Published Rate (7/1/01) $66.66/Day
Add Back Flexible Rate
Add-On $16.44/Day
New Rate Effective July
1, 2001 $83.10/Day
The
rate information at the AASAWEB site will be updated from January 1, 2001
levels to July 1, 2001 levels.
All changes made manually will have to be entered
before the end of the business day, July 20, 2001 to assure correct payments
for July services.
If you have any questions regarding these adjustments,
contact your Area Agency on Aging State Unit on Aging representative or Ben
Schatz at:
Phone
360-725-2441
E-Mail:
schatbl@dshs.wa.gov
__________________________________ _______________________________
Penny
Black, Director Denise Gaither,
Director
Home
and Community Services Division Management
Services Division
cc: Sue Poltl, DDD
Hank Balderrama, MHD
James Reddick, DCFS
Mary Lou Percival, AASA