(a) General reporting. Except where otherwise specified under this title, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) follows the requirements, methods, and procedures set forth in this section to determine costs appropriate for use in the reimbursement determination process.
(b) Cost report requirements. Unless specifically stated in program rules or excused as described in paragraph (4)(D) of this subsection, each provider must submit financial and statistical information on cost report forms provided by HHSC, on facsimiles that are formatted according to HHSC specifications and are pre-approved by HHSC staff, or electronically in HHSC-prescribed format in programs where these systems are operational. The cost reports must be submitted to HHSC in a manner prescribed by HHSC. The cost reports must be prepared to reflect the activities of the provider while delivering contracted services during the fiscal year specified by the cost report. Cost reports or other special surveys or reports may be required for other periods at the discretion of HHSC. Each provider is responsible for accurately completing any cost report or other special survey or report submitted to HHSC.
  (1) Accounting methods. All financial and statistical information submitted on cost reports must be based upon the accrual method of accounting, except where otherwise specified in §355.102 and §355.103 of this subchapter (relating to General Principles of Allowable and Unallowable Costs and Specifications for Allowable and Unallowable Costs) and in the case of governmental entities operating on a cash or modified accrual basis. For cost-reporting purposes, accrued expenses must be incurred during the cost-reporting period and must be paid within 180 days after the end of that cost-reporting period. In situations where a contracted provider, any of its controlling entities, its parent company/sole member, or its related-party management company has filed for bankruptcy protection, the contracted provider may request an exception to the 180-day requirement for payment of accrued allowable expenses by submitting a written request to the HHSC Provider Finance Department. The written request must be submitted within 60 days of the date of the bankruptcy filing or at least 60 days prior to the due date of the cost report for which the exception is being requested, whichever is later. The contracted provider will then be requested by the HHSC Provider Finance Department to provide certain documentation, which must be provided by the specified due date. Such exceptions due to bankruptcy may be granted for reasonable, necessary, and documented accrued allowable expenses that were not paid within the 180-day requirement. Accrued revenues must be for services performed during the cost-reporting period and do not have to be received within 180 days after the end of that cost reporting period in order to be reported as revenues for cost-reporting purposes. Except as otherwise specified by the cost determination process rules of this chapter, cost report instructions, or policy clarifications, cost reports should be prepared consistent with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), which are those principles approved by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Internal Revenue Service (IRS) laws and regulations do not necessarily apply in the preparation of the cost report. In cases where cost-reporting rules differ from GAAP, IRS, or other authorities, HHSC rules take precedence for provider cost-reporting purposes.
  (2) Recordkeeping and adequate documentation. There is a distinction between noncompliance in recordkeeping, which equates with unauditability of a cost report and constitutes an administrative contract violation or, for the Nursing Facility program, may result in vendor hold, and a provider's inability to provide adequate documentation, which results in disallowance of relevant costs. Each is discussed in the following paragraphs.
    (A) Recordkeeping. Providers must ensure that records are accurate and sufficiently detailed to support the legal, financial, and other statistical information contained in the cost report. Providers must maintain all work papers and any other records that support the information submitted on the cost report relating to all allocations, cost centers, cost or statistical line items, surveys, and schedules. HHSC may require supporting documentation other than that contained in the cost report to substantiate reported information.
      (i) For contracted providers subject to 40 TAC Chapter 49, each provider must maintain records according to the requirements stated in 40 TAC §49.307 (relating to Record Retention and Disposition) and according to the HHSC's prescribed chart of accounts, when available.
      (ii) If a contractor is terminating business operations, the contractor must ensure that:
        (I) records are stored and accessible; and
        (II) someone is responsible for adequately maintaining the records.
      (iii) For nursing facilities, failure to maintain all work papers and any other records that support the information submitted on the cost report relating to all allocations, cost centers, cost or statistical line items, surveys, and schedules may result in vendor hold as specified in §355.403 of this chapter (relating to Vendor Hold).
      (iv) For all other programs, failure to maintain all work papers and any other records that support the information submitted on the cost report relating to all allocations, cost centers, cost or statistical line items, surveys, and schedules constitutes an administrative contract violation. In the case of an administrative contract violation, procedural guidelines and informal reconsideration and/or appeal processes are specified in §355.111 of this subchapter (relating to Administrative Contract Violations).
    (B) Adequate documentation. The relationship between reported costs and contracted services must be clearly and adequately documented to be allowable. Adequate documentation consists of all materials necessary to demonstrate the relationship of personnel, supplies, and services to the provision of contracted client care or the relationship of the central office to the individual service delivery entity level. These materials may include but are not limited to, accounting records, invoices, organizational charts, functional job descriptions, other written statements, and direct interviews with staff, as deemed necessary by HHSC auditors to perform required tests of reasonableness, necessity, and allowability.
      (i) The minimum allowable statistical duration for a time study upon which to base salary allocations is four weeks per year, with one week being randomly selected from each quarter so as to assure that the time study is representative of the various cycles of business operations. One week is defined as only those days the contracted provider is in operation for seven continuous days. The time study can be performed for one continuous week during a quarter, or it can be performed over five or seven individual days, whichever is applicable, throughout a quarter. The time study must be a 100% time study, accounting for 100% of the time paid to the employee, including vacation and sick leave.
      (ii) To support the existence of a loan, the provider must have available a signed copy of the loan contract, which contains the pertinent terms of the loan, such as amount, rate of interest, method of payment, due date, and collateral. The documentation must include an explanation for the purpose of the loan, and an audit trail must be provided showing the use of the loan proceeds. Evidence of systematic interest and principal payments must be available and supported by the payback schedule in the note or amortization schedule supporting the note. Documentation must also include substantiation of any costs associated with the securing of the loan, such as broker's fees, due diligence fees, lender's fees, attorney's fees, etc. To document allowable interest costs associated with related party loans, the provider is required to maintain documentation verifying the prime interest rate in accordance with §355.103(b)(11)(C) of this subchapter for a similar type of loan as of the effective date of the related party loan.
      (iii) For ground transportation equipment, a mileage log is not required if the equipment is used solely (100%) for the provision of contracted client services in accordance with program requirements in delivering one type of contracted care. However, the contracted provider must have a written policy that states that the ground transportation equipment is restricted to that use, and that policy must be followed. For ground transportation equipment that is used for several purposes (including for personal use) or multiple programs or across various business components, mileage logs must be maintained. Personal use includes, among other things, driving to and from a personal residence. At a minimum, mileage logs must include for each individual trip the date, the time of day (beginning and ending), driver, persons in the vehicle, trip mileage (beginning, ending, and total), purpose of the trip, and the allocation centers (the departments, programs, and/or business entities to which the trip costs should be allocated). Flight logs must include dates, mileage, passenger lists, and destinations, along with any other Cont'd...