Nursing Homes Face Four Important Deadlines
(Aug. 13, 2024) Vacation? What vacation? Nursing home providers are facing several key deadlines in the coming week. Due by Aug. 20th is the on-line safe staffing survey, collecting 2020 financial data that will allow the Department of Health (DOH) to allocate the federal share of Safe Staffing funding that providers have been waiting for since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) approved it in March.
Please note that the print version of the survey includes all of the questions from all three sections of the survey. For most providers, only the first section, Schedule A which asks about federal COVID relief funding received in 2020, will be relevant. Schedule B, the lengthiest of the sections, should only be completed by those who received funding or had expenditures in 2020 because of a natural disaster emergency declaration. The instructions clarify that this does NOT include COVID. Rather, natural disaster for this purpose is defined as flooding, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, high water, landslide, mudslide, wind, storm, wave action, volcanic activity or drought.
Last week, DOH indicated that it had received about 130 surveys to-date. Providers with questions are encouraged to submit them to nhsafestaffing@health.ny.gov before completing the survey. More information with links to the survey and the associated Dear Administrator Letter is available here. Please ensure that the individual who must certify the submission is available to do so.
Quarterly Payroll Based Journal (PBJ) data for the quarter ending June 30, 2024, is due by Aug. 14th. More information is available here. While they reflect no policy changes, the PBJ Frequently Asked Questions were updated in July of this year.
RHCF Medicaid cost reports are due on Aug. 19th. Please keep in mind that operator and CFO electronic certifications are due at the same time. Complete and accurate reports are critical should the data be used to update Medicaid rates. More information is available here.
Finally, for those seeking Vital Access Provider Assurance (VAPAP) funding, the application deadline for the first half of the 2024-25 fiscal year is Aug. 15. The next due date will be Dec. 15th. More information here.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841