SECTION 355.8208. Waiver Payments to Publicly-Owned Dental Providers for Uncompensated Charity Care

(a) Introduction. Beginning October 1, 2019, Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement 1115 Waiver payments are available under this section for eligible publicly-owned dental providers to help defray the uncompensated cost of charity care. Waiver payments to publicly-owned dental providers for uncompensated care provided before October 1, 2019, are described in §355.8441 of this subchapter (relating to Reimbursement Methodologies for Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) Services).

(b) Definitions.

(1) Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)--The federal agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services responsible for overseeing and directing Medicare and Medicaid, or its successor.

(2) Charity care--Healthcare services provided without expectation of reimbursement to uninsured patients who meet the provider's charity-care policy. The charity-care policy should adhere to the charity-care principles of the Healthcare Financial Management Association Principles and Practices Board Statement 15 (December 2012). Charity care includes full or partial discounts given to uninsured patients who meet the provider's financial assistance policy. Charity care does not include bad debt, courtesy allowances, or discounts given to patients who do not meet the provider's charity-care policy or financial assistance policy.

(3) Demonstration year--The 12-month period beginning October 1 for which the payments calculated under this section are made. Demonstration year one was October 1, 2011, through September 30, 2012.

(4) Governmental entity--A state agency or a political subdivision of the state. A governmental entity includes a hospital authority, hospital district, city, county, or state entity.

(5) HHSC--The Texas Health and Human Services Commission or its designee.

(6) Intergovernmental transfer (IGT)--A transfer of public funds from a governmental entity to HHSC.

(7) Public funds--Funds derived from taxes, assessments, levies, investments, and other public revenues within the sole and unrestricted control of a governmental entity. Public funds do not include gifts, grants, trusts, or donations, the use of which is conditioned on supplying a benefit solely to the donor or grantor of the funds.

(8) Publicly-owned dental provider--A dental provider that uses paid government employees to provide dental services directly funded by a governmental entity.

(9) Uncompensated-care application--A form prescribed by HHSC to identify uncompensated costs for Medicaid-enrolled providers.

(10) Uncompensated-care payments--Payments intended to defray the uncompensated costs of charity care as defined in paragraph (2) of this subsection.

(11) Uninsured patient--An individual who has no health insurance or other source of third-party coverage for the services provided. The term includes an individual enrolled in Medicaid who received services that do not meet the definition of medical assistance in section 1905(a) of the Social Security Act (Medicaid services), if such inclusion is specified in the hospital's charity-care policy or financial assistance policy and the patient meets the hospital's policy criteria.

(12) Waiver--The Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Program Medicaid demonstration waiver under §1115 of the Social Security Act.

(c) Eligibility. To be eligible for payments under this section, a publicly-owned dental provider must submit to HHSC an acceptable uncompensated-care application for the demonstration year, as is more fully described in subsection (g)(1) of this section, by the deadline specified by HHSC.

(d) Source of funding. The non-federal share of funding for payments under this section is limited to public funds from governmental entities.

(e) Payment frequency. HHSC will distribute uncompensated-care payments on a schedule to be determined by HHSC and posted on HHSC's website.

(f) Funding limitations.

(1) Payments made under this section are limited by the amount of funds allocated to the provider's uncompensated-care pool for the demonstration year as described in §355.8212 of this division (relating to Waiver Payments to Hospitals for Uncompensated Charity Care). If payments for uncompensated care for the publicly-owned dental provider pool attributable to a demonstration year are expected to exceed the amount of funds allocated to that pool by HHSC for that demonstration year, HHSC will reduce payments to providers in the pool as described in subsection (g)(3) of this section.

(2) Payments made under this section are limited by the availability of funds identified in subsection (d) of this section. If sufficient funds are not available for all payments for which all publicly-owned dental providers are eligible, HHSC will reduce payments as described in subsection (h)(2) of this section.

(g) Uncompensated-care payment amount.

(1) Uncompensated-care application. Payments to eligible publicly-owned dental providers are based on cost and payment data reported by the provider on an application form prescribed by HHSC and on supporting documentation. Providers must certify that uncompensated-care costs reported on the application have not been claimed on any other application or cost report.

(2) Calculation. A dental provider's annual maximum uncompensated-care payment amount is calculated as follows:

(A) As detailed in the cost report instructions, the provider must report their charges associated with charity-care services to uninsured patients and any payments attributable to those services.

(B) A cost-to-billed-charges ratio will be used to calculate total allowable cost.

(C) The result of subparagraph (B) of this paragraph will be reduced by any related payments to determine the provider's annual maximum uncompensated-care payment amount.

(3) Reduction to stay within the publicly-owned dental provider uncompensated-care pool allocation amount. Prior to processing uncompensated-care payments for any payment period within a waiver demonstration year, HHSC will determine if such a payment would cause total uncompensated-care payments for the demonstration year for the publicly-owned dental provider pool to exceed the allocation amount for the pool and will reduce the maximum uncompensated-care payment amounts for each provider in the pool by the same percentage as required to remain within the pool allocation amount.

(h) Payment methodology.

(1) Notice. Prior to making any payment described in subsection (g) of this section, HHSC will give notice of the following information:

(A) the payment amount for each publicly-owned dental provider in the pool;

(B) the maximum IGT amount necessary for providers in the pool to receive the amounts described in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; and

(C) the deadline for completing the IGT.

(2) Payment amount. The amount of the payment to providers in the pool will be determined based on the amount of funds transferred by the governmental entities as follows:

(A) If the governmental entities transfer the maximum amount referenced in paragraph (1) of this subsection, the providers will receive the full payment amount calculated for that payment period.

(B) If the governmental entities do not transfer the maximum amount referenced in paragraph (1) of this subsection, each provider in the pool will receive a portion of its payment amount for that period, based on the provider's percentage of the total payment amounts for all providers in the pool.

(i) Recoupment.

(1) In the event of an overpayment identified by HHSC or a disallowance by CMS of federal financial participation related to a provider's receipt or use of payments under this section, HHSC may recoup an amount equivalent to the amount of the overpayment or disallowance. The non-federal share of any funds recouped from the provider will be returned to the entity that owns or is affiliated with the provider.

(2) Payments under this section may be subject to adjustment for payments made in error, including, without limitation, adjustments under §371.1711 of this title (relating to Recoupment of Overpayments and Debts), 42 CFR Part 455, and Chapter 403 of the Texas Government Code. HHSC may recoup an amount equivalent to any such adjustment.

(3) HHSC may recoup from any current or future Medicaid payments as follows:

(A) HHSC will recoup from the provider against which any overpayment was made or disallowance was directed.

(B) If, within 30 days of the provider's receipt of HHSC's written notice of recoupment, the provider has not paid the full amount of the recoupment or entered into a written agreement with HHSC to do so, HHSC may withhold any or all future Medicaid payments from the provider until HHSC has recovered an amount equal to the amount overpaid or disallowed.

Source Note: The provisions of this §355.8208 adopted to be effective January 10, 2019, 44 TexReg 230