AGING AND DISABILITY SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
May 21, 2004
ADSA: BH #2004-007
BOARDING HOME COST FINDING
Dear Boarding Home Provider:
Prior to the April 2003 implementation of the CARE system the legislature directed the department to report in December of 2004 findings regarding actual costs for providing boarding home care and services for residents at various levels of need. The department is requesting your cooperation in producing findings and verifying actual costs of providing boarding home care and services.
The following question and answer format may answer many of your questions about this request:
Q. Why is it important that I share information about my costs of doing business as a boarding home?
A. During the 2003 Legislative Session organizations that lobby for boarding homes e.g., Washington Association of Housing and Services for the Aging (WAHSA), Northwest Assisted Living Facility Association (Nor-ALFA), and the Washington Health Care Association (WHCA) supported legislation that would require the department to research the actual cost of providing boarding home care to Medicaid recipients. This legislation passed and is set out in full below.
Chapter 231, Laws of 2003 {+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 8. (1) By December 12, 2004, the department shall report on the payment system for licensed boarding homes to the chairs of the health care committees of both houses of the legislature. The department shall include in the report its findings regarding the validity of the comprehensive assessment tool for categorizing residents into meaningful care and payment groups; its findings regarding the actual costs of providing care and services in each of the care payment levels; and its findings regarding the rates of payment, by level, that are necessary and reasonably related to the costs of providing care and services to medicaid residents. (2) This section expires December 31, 2004. [Emphasis added] If the department is unable to obtain cost data from boarding homes, then its report to the legislature will not contain the cost findings that the boarding homes asked the Legislature to have the department compile. This is a unique opportunity to provide the legislature with data it may use to establish appropriations for state funded boarding home services.
Q. If I do share this information, will the department disclose it to other boarding homes and outside organizations?
A. No. In the 2004 Legislative Session, the Legislature passed SSB 6225 (Chapter 142, Laws of 2004). Section 16 of SSB 6225 exempts from public disclosure any information that the department gathers for the report except in the aggregate. This means that no individual boarding home costs will be identified in the report. {+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 16. A new section is added to chapter 42.17 RCW to read as follows: Data collected by the department of social and health services for the reports required by section 11 of this act and section 8, chapter 231, Laws of 2003, except as compiled in the aggregate and reported to the senate and house of representatives, is exempt from disclosure under this chapter. [Emphasis added.]
Q. What cost information does the department want?
A. For calendar year 2003, general ledger, trial balance, staff wages, regular and overtime hours worked and position, payroll tax and fringe benefits, census information to support resident days served, each resident's level of care and a depreciation schedule. For your Medicaid residents, the department-completed CARE assessment will be used to determine the level of care. For your non-Medicaid residents, department staff will work with you to group these individuals into care levels through interviews with your staff and information in your records. Confidentiality will not be breached because no resident identifiers will be included in the data.
Q. Why can't this information be collected through a survey, rather than having the facility submit actual records?
A. In the past, the department's requests for data through surveys have resulted in low response rates, estimates rather than actual costs, and inconsistencies in the data reported such that the data's integrity was subject to question. Also, submission of existing records is much less time consuming than extracting specific data to complete a survey.
Q. Where can I get additional information on this study?
A. Contact your provider association or Dick Rosage at ADSA headquarters-Lacey, WA, information below.
Q. How do I supply this information to the department or find out more about the process?
A. Please contact me at:
Dick Rosage, Manager
Home and Community Rates
Aging and Disability Services Administration (ADSA)
P.O. Box 45600
Olympia, WA 98504-45600
360.725.2442
FAX 360.725.2641 Page 360.971.9370
rosagrl@dshs.wa.gov
I will arrange with you the best way for the department to gather this information. The method of gathering the information may be by e-mail attachment, fax or mail.
If you have questions about this letter, the Legislative Report, or any topic related to the report, please contact me at the above telephone, address or e-mail. Thank for considering whether to share cost information about the operation of your boarding home with the department.
Sincerely,
Dick Rosage, Manager
Home and Community Rates
Cc: Tom Kearns, Chief
Office of Rates Management
ADSA
Kathy, Marshall, Director
Management Services Division
ADSA
