1. The State Home Per Diem Program
Patty Gheen
VHA Deputy Chief Business Officer for Purchased Care

2. Overview of the State Home Per Diem Program
Introduction and Program Scope
FY 2011: National Workload and Expenditures
FY 2012 Basic Per Diem Rates
Current and Long Range Initiatives
Summary
Points of Contact 2

3. Introduction and Program Scope
VA’s State Home program provides quality care for eligible Veterans in nursing home, domiciliary, and adult day health care programs
VA’s State Home program is an economical alternative to constructing, maintaining and operating VA-owned facilities
The VA pays a portion of the Veteran’s costs
The state homes are owned, staffed, and operated by the States 3

4. Introduction and Program Scope
VA has  a partnership with the States for 189 state home programs
These are located in each of the 50 states and Puerto Rico 
At present, there are 134 nursing homes; 54 domiciliaries; and one adult day health care program 
FY 2011 program costs were $826.7 million 
Note: Numbers of state home programs and levels of care depicted above are as of the close of FY 2011

5. Introduction and Program Scope

6. Alignment of VHA State Home Program Management Responsibilities

7. Summary of National State Home Workloads and Expenditures for FY 2011
Program Scope
Eligibility for Payment of State Home Per Diem
State Home Per Diem Rates
Authorized Bed Levels

8. Program Scope: FY 2011 State Nursing Homes (134):
Basic Rate Per Diem Payments: $630,761,213
SC Per Diem Payments (PL ): $144,605,032
State Domiciliaries (54): $50,838,688
Adult Day Health Care (1): $456,865
Total FY 2011 Per Diem Costs: $826,661,798 8

9. DISTRIBUTION OF FACILITIES

10. Distribution of Expenses by Program

11. Eligibility for Payment of State Home Per Diem
VA per diem payments to States are only paid for the care of eligible Veterans
The Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs may adjust the per diem rates each year
There are two payment methodologies for nursing home care; a higher rate for SC Veterans and a basic rate for NSC Veterans
Non-Veteran residents are not entitled to payment of VA aid 11

12. Eligibility for Payment of SH Per Diem and the Provision of Medications

13. Authorized Bed Levels Level of Care Beds Authorized
Nursing Home ,480
Domiciliary ,984
Adult Day Health Care (slots)
Total: 30,514
Note: Numbers depicted are current as of 12/2011

14. FY 2012 State Home Per Diem Rates
The FY 2012 basic state home per diem rates are:
     State Nursing Home:  $95.82
     State Domiciliary:  $39.90
     State Adult Day Health Care:  $75.40
These rates are to be used for care that will be provided from October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012
The VA Prevailing Rates for service-connected Veterans were released to VAMCs of jurisdiction and the State Homes on Oct. 21, 2011

15. Current and Long Term Initiatives
CBO worked to enhance and standardize business processes through:
analyses and discussions to determine viable state home per diem payment methodologies
the development of internal program controls, audit tools, and future-state technology systems
increased communication flow with VA and non-VA stakeholders

16. Current and Long Term Initiatives
CBO re-wrote and updated national policy for the State Home Per Diem Program.   The new VHA Handbook for the State Home Per Diem Program was released to VHA field activities on August 25, 2011
CBO established monthly state home per diem program conference calls to provide guidance and direction to VISN and VAMC of jurisdiction program managers
CBO developed a comprehensive new VA Intranet web site for the state home per diem program

17. Current and Long Term Initiatives
CBO is developing a plan to standardize and automate the business processes around the initial application process as well as the payment processes
Our intent is to develop new and automated information technology solutions to processes for both VA and the State Home community
A national review is ongoing to define business requirements to automate the process in which State Home Per Diem Program process flow is conducted and to look at options for the future

18. Current and Long Term Initiatives
Areas under review include workload processing, data capture, financial management, and information technology (IT) solutions
As a part of this national review, CBO has solicited NASVH input
Additionally, CBO is exploring a regulatory change to allow State Veteran Homes to hold a bed for a Veteran for up to 30 days when temporarily transferred to an institution for acute care services
Will promote better tracking of Veterans and decrease administrative burden

19. State Home Per Diem Program FY11 Summary of Accomplishments
Pursued multiple initiatives to enhance communication with VHA field activities. Revised national policy; began monthly conference calls; launched new VHA intranet State Home per diem web site; conducted regional training forums; met with external VA stakeholders
Provided guidance and assistance to numerous VA/VHA audit activities (e.g., OIG, IPERA, MQAS, FQAMs)
Surveyed State Veterans Homes to help assess issues associated with SC payment methodologies
Transitioned from CITRIX to SQL for workload and expenditure reporting. High acceptance by VHA field activities. Field tested at 20 VAMCs of jurisdiction. User-friendly interface. Artificial Intelligence capabilities to help reduce errors and improper payments

20. Potential Policy Changes
Dom/ADHC Update
30-Day Residency Requirement
Contracted Rates
Proposed rule to require the use of MDS 3.0 vs 2.0

21. Recent Changes Affecting VA Form 10-10SH Admissions Applications
The new VHA Handbook for the State Home Per Diem Program adopted three of the OIG’s recommendations concerning the state home application forms (VA Forms 10-10EZ and VA Form 10-10SH, State Home Program Application for Veteran Care Medical Certification). New VHA policy requires that:
The medical need for the level of care (nursing home, domiciliary or adult day care) must be verified in writing on the VA Form 10-10SH by the signature of a VA physician or a qualified licensed physician assistant or nurse practitioner currently employed in a VA long term care setting

22. Recent Changes Affecting VA Form 10-10SH Admissions Applications
This represents a change from previous policy where it was restricted to only a VA physician
VA administrative and clinical reviews must be conducted within ten business days after the application forms are received by the VAMC of jurisdiction
Important: Recent VA audit findings indicate that some VAMCs of jurisdiction had not received the 10-10SH at all; they weren’t on hand during the audit. Secondary to that, some forms had been received, but the VA certification and the signatures had not been on the form to verify administrative eligibility or the approval or the disapproval of the clinical eligibility for the level of care

23. Payment Models being Considered Under the Contract Option
VA is considering the use of contracts to allow VA and the States flexibility in multiple payment methodologies to support the highly service connected (70% or greater and those receiving treatment for SC conditions)
The intent of the contracts is to allow VA and the respective State the opportunity to use a payment model that supports their programmatic differences inherent within each State
The models being considered are based on industry standard payment methodologies but also adjusted to meet critical financial concerns for higher cost residents. The models will support State Homes who are Medicare certified as well as those State Homes who currently do not have Medicare certification
The contracts will also include provisions to outline covered services as well as potential high cost outliers

24. Payment Models being Considered Under the Contract Option
The models in review are:
Individual Resource Utilization Groups (RUGs): This model uses the individual RUGs score for each resident (typically calculated quarterly) and applies the Medicare rate for those individual RUG score. This will allow for significant variation in patient acuity and care requirements. With some 66 RUG scores, it may be challenging for non-Medicare certified homes.
Prevailing Rates: This is VA’s current methodology, using an average of prevailing rates under skilled nursing programs. This is likely the preferred option for non-Medicare certified homes.

25. Payment Models being Considered Under the Contract Option
NASVH considered four payment models, individual RUGs, grouped RUGs, Medicaid-plus, and the prevailing rate and narrowed that down to individual RUGs and prevailing rate
Preliminary NASVH feedback, based on information from 6 of the 8 test sites, indicates: 
A general feeling that most State Veterans Homes would likely select the prevailing rate to cover basic nursing care, as most feel it would provide the simplest and most efficient billing  process
NASVH analyses, however, did not account for any “outlier” costs for specialty care or highly skilled nursing services ( e.g., exclusions or exemptions that would be authorized under Medicare rules).  These provisions still need to be worked

26. Summary
VA’s state home program plays a major role in delivering long term care to our nation’s Veterans
The program is expected to have future growth
As VHA’s state home per diem program manager, CBO has developed a number of initiatives that we believe will further enhance the national program
This includes establishing an active and regular dialogue with internal VA stakeholders, state home Administrators and NASVH leadership 26

27. For additional information, please contact:
Contacts
For additional information, please contact:
Joe Enderle
(740) , ext. 6220
Harold Bailey
(303) 27

28. Questions/Discussion.
Questions/Discussion 28