Section 180. Establishment of rate per visit for home health services

A. Effective for dates of services on and after July 1, 1991, the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) shall reimburse home health agencies (HHAs) at a flat rate per visit for each type of service rendered by HHAs (i.e., nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology services, and home health aide services.) In addition, supplies left in the home and extraordinary transportation costs will be paid at specific rates.

B. Effective for dates of services on and after July 1, 1993, DMAS shall establish a flat rate for each level of service for HHAs by peer group. There shall be three peer groups: (i) the Department of Health's HHAs, (ii) non-Department of Health HHAs whose operating office is located in the Virginia portion of the Washington DC-MD-VA metropolitan statistical area, and (iii) non-Department of Health HHAs whose operating office is located in the rest of Virginia. The use of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) designation of urban metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) shall be incorporated in determining the appropriate peer group for these classifications.

The Department of Health's agencies are being placed in a separate peer group due to their unique cost characteristics (only one consolidated cost report is filed for all Department of Health agencies).

C. Rates shall be calculated as follows:

1. Each home health agency shall be placed in its appropriate peer group.

2. Department of Health HHAs Medicaid cost per visit (exclusive of medical supplies costs) shall be obtained from its 1989 cost-settled Medicaid cost report. Non-Department of Health HHAs Medicaid cost per visit (exclusive of medical supplies costs) shall be obtained from the 1989 cost-settled Medicaid Cost Reports filed by freestanding HHAs. Costs shall be inflated to a common point in time (June 30, 1991) by using the percent of change in the moving average factor of the Data Resources Inc., (DRI), National Forecast Tables for the Home Health Agency Market Basket (as published quarterly).

3. To determine the flat rate per visit effective July 1, 1993, the following methodology shall be utilized:

a. The peer group HHAs per visit rates shall be ranked and weighted by the number of Medicaid visits per discipline to determine a median rate per visit for each peer group at July 1, 1991.

b. The HHA's peer group median rate per visit for each peer group at July 1, 1991, shall be the interim peer group rate for calculating the update through January 1, 1992. The interim peer group rate shall be updated by 100% of historical inflation from July 1, 1991, through December 31, 1992, and shall become the final interim peer group rate that shall be updated by 50% of the forecasted inflation to the end of December 31, 1993, to establish the final peer group rates. The lower of the final peer group rates or the Medicare upper limit at January 1, 1993, will be effective for payments from July 1, 1993, through December 1993.

c. Separate rates shall be provided for the initial assessment, follow-up, and comprehensive visits for skilled nursing and for the initial assessment and follow-up visits for physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. The comprehensive rate shall be 200% of the follow-up rate, and the initial assessment rates shall be $15 higher than the follow-up rates. The lower of the peer group median or Medicare upper limits shall be adjusted as appropriate to assure budget neutrality when the higher rates for the comprehensive and initial assessment visits are calculated.

4. The fee schedule shall be adjusted annually beginning July 1, 2010, based on the percent of change in the moving average of the National Forecast Tables for the Home Health Agency Market Basket published by Global Insight (or its successor) for the second quarter of the calendar year in which the fiscal year begins. The report shall be the latest published report prior to the fiscal year. The method to calculate the annual update shall be:

a. All subsequent year peer group rates shall be calculated utilizing the previous final peer group rate established on July 1.

b. The annual July 1 update shall be compared to the Medicare upper limit per visit in effect on each January 1, and the HHAs shall receive the lower of the annual update or the Medicare upper limit per visit as the final peer group rate.

D. Effective July 1, 2009, the previous inflation increase effective January 1, 2009, shall be reduced by 50%.

E. Effective July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2016, there shall be no inflation adjustment for home health agencies.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR460-03-4.1923, eff. July 1, 1994; amended, Volume 26, Issue 12, eff. March 17, 2010; Volume 26, Issue 19, eff. July 1, 2010; Volume 29, Issue 23, eff. August 14, 2013; Volume 31, Issue 15, eff. April 22, 2015.

Statutory Authority

§ 32.1-325 of the Code of Virginia; 42 USC § 1396 et seq.