HFS News & Information

The Hospice, 1984-14 system was updated to Transmittal 2 by CMS, on June 30, 2015. Transmittal 2 has the same effective date as Transmittal 1, for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2014. HFS was approved for Transmittal 2 on August 6, 2015 and the software was released August 7, 2015.

Transmittal 2 changes include:

• Worksheet A: Shaded column 1 of line 70.
• Worksheet A-6: Modified form and instructions to separate reclassifications between salaries and other costs.
• Worksheets B and B-1: Removed shading from column 7 of line 17 for both Worksheet B and B-1. Modified column labels on Worksheet B-1.The official Form CMS 1984-14, Transmittal 2 is available at: https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/2015-Transmittals-Items/R2P243.html?DLPage=1&DLEntries=10&DLSort=1&DLSortDir=descending

If you have any questions, please contact Eric Swanson at eric@hfssoft.com.

The OPO, 216-94 system was updated to Transmittal 6 by CMS, on June 19, 2015. Transmittal 6 is effective for cost reporting periods that begin on or after May 1, 2014.

The transmittal is available at the CMS website:

http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/2015-Transmittals-Items/R6P233.html?DLPage=3&DLEntries=10&DLSort=1&DLSortDir=descending

• HFS was approved for Transmittal 6 on July 15, 2015.
• The primary change in Transmittal 6 was the introduction of an adjustment column for the calculation of accumulated costs on Worksheet B-1, column 10.
• CMS also made clarifications and corrections to the instructions including:

• Facilities operating both an OPO and Lab with 2 separate CCNs with enter the OPO data on Worksheet S, Part I, line 4 and the Lab information on subscripted line 4.01.
• On Worksheet A, costs for other acquisition not identified on lines 15 through 18 will be identified on line 19 and subscripts. Line 20 will not be used for cost reporting periods beginning on or after May 1, 2012.
• Clarified that for cost reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2015, Home Office costs should no longer be reported on Worksheet A-5, line 3. Instead they will be reported on Worksheet A-5-1.
• Clarified that gains and/or losses on the sale of assets are not to be reported on Worksheet A-6, line 6, for cost reporting periods ending on or after December 1, 1997.
• The Worksheet D, line 6 instructions were clarified to state that sequestration would not be computed, where an amount due to Medicare was computed.

HFS was approved for the Transmittal 6 changes on July 14^th, 2015 and the update was made available to the OPO cost report users on July xx, 2015.

If you have any questions, please contact Eric Swanson at eric@hfssoft.com.

CMS published the Preliminary Public Use File (PUF) for the FY 2017 wage index and occupational mix on 5/15/2015. This file reflects the Worksheet S-3, Parts II and III wage data from cost reports for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 (FY Beginning from 10/1/12 to 9/30/2013). Hospitals will have until September 2, 2015 to request revisions to the wage data posted in the May PUF.

The following file has been created and can be downloaded and used with the Wage Index Verification Tool for the Federal Fiscal Year 2017, Proposed Rule PUF:

FY 2017 May 15 2015 Wage Index PUF HFS Modified CSV 2552-10

CMS published an updated final FY 2016 wage index Public Use File (PUF) on July 30, 2015. This is the final file used for IPPS payments in FFY 2016.

The following file has been created and can be downloaded and used with the Wage Index Verification Tool for the Federal Fiscal Year 2016, Final Rule PUF:

FY 2016 July 30 2015 Wage Index PUF HFS Modified CSV 2552-10

On February 20^th, 2015 CMS issued updated monthly inflation factors to be used to update the Worksheet A-8-3 Therapy Guidelines for CAH providers providing contracted therapy services.  The Transmittal is available on the CMS website at:

 http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/2015-Transmittals-Items/R467PR1.html?DLPage=1&DLFilter=therapy&DLSort=1&DLSortDir=ascending

If you have any questions, please contact Eric Swanson at eric@hfssoft.com.

On Friday, March 13th, 2015, CMS issued Transmittal number 7 to the Provider Cost Reporting Forms and Instructions, Chapter 40, Form CMS-2552-10. Transmittal 7 is effective for cost reporting periods ending on or after October 1, 2014.

The transmittal is available at the CMS website:

http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/2015-Transmittals-Items/R7P240.html?DLPage=1&DLSort=1&DLSortDir=descending

The major changes reflect Federal Fiscal Year 2015 IPPS Final Rule changes including:

• The addition of Worksheet S-2, Part I, lines 22.02 and 22.03 to identify newly merged hospitals and hospitals that undergo an involuntary reclassification from urban to rural.
• The addition of Worksheet-2, Part I, line 40, to identify hospitals that are subject to the Hospital Acquired Condition (HAC) reduction adjustment.
• The addition of Worksheet E, Part A, lines 22.01, 28.01 and 29.01 to compute the IME adjustment for managed care patients in a teaching hospital and revision to line 49 to add in the IME adjustment amount for managed care patients effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2014.
• Instructional revisions to Worksheet E, Part A lines 35, 35.01 and 35.02 to calculate uncompensated care for newly merged hospitals in accordance with the 2015 IPPS Final Rule and Sole Community Hospitals that do not have a hospital uncompensated care payment amount determined by CMS.
• The addition of Worksheet E, Part A, lines 70.90, 70.91, and 100 through 104 to compute the value based purchasing adjustment amount and the hospital readmissions reduction adjustment amount for Medicare Dependent Hospitals that receive a hospital specific bonus payment amount.
• Instructional revisions to Worksheet E, Part A, line 34 for hospitals that undergo an involuntary reclassification from urban to rural as a result of CMS’ adoption of new standards for delineating new statistical areas.
• The addition of Worksheet E, Part A, line 70.99 and Exhibit 5 to reconcile the HAC reduction adjustment amount in accordance with the §3008 of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010.

Other changes include:

• The addition of Worksheet S-2, Part I, lines 81, 110 and 171 to identify long term care hospitals that are co-located in another hospital, hospitals that participate in the 410A Demo and hospitals claiming Medicare days for individuals enrolled in 1876 Medicare cost plans.
• Modified Worksheet E, Part A, lines 1.02, 1.03 and 1.04 to always split Medicare payments for IPPS services at October 1 of each Federal Fiscal year.
• Clarified instructions to Worksheet E-4, lines 2, 8 and 15 for Direct Graduate Medical Education (GME) FTEs.

• Revisions to Worksheets E, Part A; E, Part B; E-2; E-3, Parts I through VI; H-4; J-3; and M-3 to add lines for the Pioneer Accountable Care Organization demonstration payment adjustment in accordance with section 3022 of the ACA, effective for discharges occurring on or after April 1, 2014.

HFS is currently programming the software changes for transmittal 7 and anticipates approval in the near future. Once approved, HFS will make the update available to users of the software.

If you have any questions, please contact Eric Swanson at eric@hfssoft.com.

On Friday, February 6^th, 2015, CMS issued a Federal Register notice releasing a draft of revisions to the hospital Cost Report. The new draft form revisions are being proposed to accommodate the statutory requirement for hospice payment reform and the statutory requirement establishing a prospective payment system for Federally Qualified Health Centers in the ACA.  These provisions are effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2014.

The draft is available at the CMS website:

http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/PaperworkReductionActof1995/PRA-Listing-Items/CMS-2552-10.html?DLPage=1&DLSort=1&DLSortDir=descending

HFS is currently reviewing the draft forms and anticipates that CMS will release final forms and instructions in the summer of 2015. Once final forms are available, HFS will update the software and make the new form set available to current users of the 2552-10 software.

If you have any questions, please contact Eric Swanson at eric@hfssoft.com.

CMS published the final FY 2016 wage index Public Use File (PUF) on May 1, 2015. CMS indicated that hospitals will have approximately 1 month to verify their data and submit correction requests to both CMS and their MAC to correct errors due to CMS or MAC mishandling of the final wage and occupational mix data.

The following file has been created and can be downloaded and used with the Wage Index Verification Tool for the Federal Fiscal Year 2016, Final Rule PUF:

FY 2016 May 1 2015 Wage Index PUF HFS Modified CSV 2552-10

CMS published a revised wage index Public Use File (PUF) on February 13, 2015. CMS indicated that the data has been desk reviewed and verified by the MACs before being published.

The following file has been created and can be downloaded and used with the Wage Index Verification Tool for the Federal Fiscal Year 2016, Final Rule PUF:

FY 2016 February 2015 Wage Index PUF HFS Modified CSV 2552-10

On October 24th, 2014, CMS issued Transmittal number 8 to the Provider Cost Reporting Forms and Instructions, Chapter 11, Form CMS-339. Transmittal 8 is effective for cost reporting periods ending on or after September 30, 2014.

The transmittal is available at the CMS website:

http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/2014-Transmittals-Items/R8P211.html?DLPage=1&DLFilter=339&DLSort=1&DLSortDir=ascending

Form CMS 339 is ONLY to be completed by Home Health Agencies, Community Mental Health Centers, Rural Health Clinics, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Hospices (With cost reporting periods beginning prior to October 1, 2014) and Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) submitting cost reports to the Medicare Administrative Contractor.

The Form CMS-339 was significantly streamlined to eliminate requirements and exhibits that were previously required for hospital providers. The 339 questions have been incorporated directly into the new Hospital, SNF, ESRD and Hospice cost reporting forms.

HFS has programmed the software changes for transmittal 8 and was approved by CMS on January 23, 2015, HFS will make the update available to users of the software in our February 6, 2015 software update.

If you have any questions, please contact Eric Swanson at eric@hfssoft.com.