Session of 1999
SENATE BILL No. 126
An Act establishing the quality enhancement wage
pass-through program for
nursing facilities.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1. (a) Notwithstanding any
provision of law to the contrary,
and within the limits of appropriations therefor, the secretary of
social
and rehabilitation services and the secretary on aging shall
establish a
quality enhancement wage pass-through program as part of the state
med-
icaid plan to allow nursing facilities electing to participate in
such program
a payment option of not to exceed $4 per resident day designed to
in-
crease salaries or benefits, or both, for those employees providing
direct
care and support services to residents of nursing facilities. The
categories
of employees eligible to receive the wage pass-through are the
follow-
ing: Nurse aides, medication aides, restorative-rehabilitation
aides, li-
censed mental health technicians, plant operating and maintenance
per-
sonnel, nonsupervisory dietary personnel, laundry personnel,
housekeeping personnel and nonsupervisory activity staff. The
program
shall establish a pass-through wage payment system designed to
reim-
burse facilities during the reimbursement period in which the
pass-
through wage payment costs are incurred.
(b) Nursing facilities shall have the
option to elect to participate in
the quality enhancement wage pass-through program. The wage
pass-
through moneys are to be paid to nursing facilities outside of cost
center
limits or occupancy penalties as a pass-through labor cost
reimbursement.
The pass-through cost shall be included in the cost report
base.
(c) The quality enhancement wage
pass-through program shall re-
quire quarterly wage audits for all nursing facilities
participating in the
program. The quarterly wage audits will require facilities to
submit cost
information within 45 days of the end of each quarter reporting on
the
use of the wage pass-through payment under the quality
enhancement
wage pass-through program. This quarterly wage audit process shall
be
used to assure that the wage pass-through payment was used to
increase
salaries and benefits to direct care and other support staff as
specified in
this subsection or to hire additional staff that fall into the
eligible person-
nel categories specified in this subsection.
(d) No wage pass-through moneys shall be
expended to increase man-
agement compensation or facility profits. A nursing facility
participating
in the quality enhancement wage pass-through program which fails to
file
quarterly enhancement audit reports shall be terminated from the
pro-
gram and shall repay all amounts which the nursing facility has
received
under the quality enhancement wage pass-through program for that
re-
porting period.
(e) All expenditures for the quality
enhancement wage pass-through
program shall be made only from moneys specifically appropriated
there-
for.
(f) As used in this section, ``nursing
facility'' means a nursing facility
as defined under K.S.A. 39-923 and amendments thereto or an
inter-
mediate care facility for the mentally retarded as defined under
K.S.A.
39-923 and amendments thereto.
Sec. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force
from and after its
publication in the statute book.
I hereby certify that the above BILL originated in the
SENATE, and passed that body
____________________________________
SENATE concurred in
HOUSE amendments ______________________________
__________________________________
|
__________________________________
|
Passed the HOUSE
as amended ______________________________
| __________________________________ |
| __________________________________ |
APPROVED ______________________________
| __________________________________ |