CHHA EPS Adjustment
On Feb. 13th, the Department of Health (DOH) posted revised episodic rates for Certified Home Health Agencies (CHHAs) to the Health Commerce System (HCS). As explained in the Dear Administrator Letter (DAL) notifying CHHAs, the 2017 CHHA Episodic Payment System (EPS) for New York City providers is revised effective Jan. 1, 2017 to account for the increase in minimum wage as of Dec. 31, 2016.
The DAL and attached rates may be viewed by selecting the 2017 CHHA EPS Minimum Wage Adj - February 1, 2017 entry in the “Rate Publication Selection List” in the CHHA Rate Sheets application on the HCS.
The revised rates are also available on the following public website:
http://www.health.ny.gov/facilities/long_term_care/reimbursement/chha/
According to the DAL, "the home health aide payment rates for New York City providers were adjusted to a minimum of $20.95 per hour, beginning March 1, 2014, to enable CHHAs to meet the 'wage parity' requirements in Section 3614.14 of the New York State Public Health Law (PHL). Effective January 1, 2017, the minimum payment rate for NYC CHHAs has been increased to $22.28 to additionally reflect the scheduled increase in the minimum wage in NYC. The additional amount consists of $1.00 per hour in wages and $0.33 cents per hour in payroll taxes and fringe benefits.”
DOH has clarified that it was necessary to convert the determined $22.28 per hour adjustment to a percentage adjustment to the 60-day episodic payment structure. “This result of 6.18% was multiplied by the estimated base rate portion to result in the Minimum Wage increase for 1/1/2017.”
DOH has asked that any questions about the methodology utilized in calculating your 2017 Medicaid rates be sent to Bltcr-ch@health.ny.gov.
Contact: Cheryl Udell, cudell@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871