Code of the District of Columbia

Subchapter VIII. Hospital Inpatient Rate Supplement.

§ 44–664.11. Definitions.

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term:

(1) "Department" means the Department of Health Care Finance.

(2) "Hospital" shall have the same meaning as provided in § 44-501(a)(1), but excludes any hospital operated by the federal government and any specialty hospital, as defined by the District of Columbia's Medicaid State Plan ("State Plan"), or a hospital that is reimbursed under a specialty hospital reimbursement methodology under the State Plan.

(3) "Hospital system" means any group of hospitals licensed separately but operated, owned, or maintained by a common entity.

(4)(A) "Inpatient net patient revenue" means, with respect to a hospital, the result of the following calculation:

(i) The quotient of the number appearing in Column 1 of Line 28 on Worksheet G-2 of the hospital's most recently available filed Hospital and Hospital Health Care Complex Cost Report ("Form CMS-2552-10"), divided by the number appearing in Column 3 of Line 28 on Worksheet G-2 of that report; and

(ii) Multiplied by the number appearing in Column 1 of Line 3 of Worksheet G-3 of that report.

(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, for a hospital that has not yet filed its first Form CMS-2552-10, the term "inpatient net patient revenue" shall mean a dollar value determined by the Department, based on projected utilization volume and projected utilization migration from other area hospitals, that approximates the hospital's expected inpatient net patient revenue.

(5) "Medicaid" means the medical assistance programs authorized by Title XIX of the Social Security Act, approved July 30, 1965 (79 Stat. 343; 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq.) ("Social Security Act"), and by § 1-307.02, and administered by the Department.

§ 44–664.12. Hospital Fund.

(a) There is established as a special fund the Hospital Fund ("Fund"), which shall be administered by the Department in accordance with subsection (c) of this section.

(b) Revenue from the following sources shall be deposited in the Fund:

(1) Fees collected under this subchapter;

(2) Interest and penalties collected under this subchapter; and

(3) Other amounts collected under this subchapter.

(d)(1) The money deposited in the Fund shall not revert to the unrestricted fund balance of the General Fund of the District of Columbia at the end of a fiscal year, or at any other time.

(2) Subject to authorization in an approved budget and financial plan, any funds appropriated in the Fund shall be continually available without regard to fiscal year limitation; provided, that any remaining money in the Fund at the end of each fiscal year shall be refunded to hospitals in proportion to the amounts paid by them.

§ 44–664.13. Hospital provider fee.

(a)(1) Beginning October 1, 2020, and except as provided in subsection (b) of this section and § 44-664.16, the District, through the Office of Tax and Revenue, may charge each hospital a fee based on its inpatient net patient revenue.

(2) The fee shall be charged at a uniform rate necessary to generate no more than $8,454,038 to support inpatient Medicaid Fee-for-Service and managed care rates at the District Fiscal Year 2015 level of not less than 98% of cost to non-specialty hospitals.

(3) The fee collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the Hospital Fund, established by § 44-664.12.

(b)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this subsection, the following hospitals shall be exempt from the fee imposed under subsection (a) of this subsection:

(A) A psychiatric hospital that is an agency or a unit of the District government; and

(B) Howard University Hospital.

(2) If an exemption provided to a hospital by paragraph (1) of this subsection is not approved for a provider tax waiver from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (if such waiver is determined to be necessary), the hospital shall be subject to the fee imposed under subsection (a) of this section.

§ 44–664.14. Quarterly notice and collection.

(a) The fee imposed under § 44-664.13 shall be due and payable by the 15th of the last month of each DFY quarter.

(b) The fee imposed under § 44-664.13 shall be calculated, due, and payable on a quarterly basis, but shall not be due and payable until the District issues written notice to each hospital informing the hospital of its fee rate, inpatient net patient revenue subject to the fee, and the fee amount owed on a quarterly basis, including, in the initial written notice from the District to the hospital, all fee amounts owed beginning with the period October 1 of each District Fiscal Year, to ensure all applicable fee obligations have been identified.

(c)(1) If a hospital fails to pay the full amount of its fee by the date required, the unpaid balance shall accrue interest at the rate of 1.5% per month or any fraction thereof, which shall be added to the unpaid balance.

(2) The Chief Financial Officer may arrange a payment plan for the amount of the fee and interest in arrears.

(d) The payment by the hospital of the fee created in this subchapter shall be reported as an allowable cost for purposes of Medicaid hospital reimbursement.

§ 44–664.15. Multi-hospital systems, closure, merger, and new hospitals.

(a) If a hospital system conducts, operates, or maintains more than one hospital licensed by the Department of Health, the hospital system shall pay the fee for each hospital separately.

(b)(1) Notwithstanding § 44-664.13, if a hospital system or person that is subject to a fee under § 44-664.13 ceases to conduct, operate, or maintain a hospital, as evidenced by the transfer or surrender of a hospital license, the fee for the DFY in which the cessation occurs shall be adjusted by multiplying the fee computed under § 44-664.13 by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of days in the year during which the hospital system or person conducts, operates, or maintains the hospital and the denominator of which is 365.

(2) Immediately upon ceasing to conduct, operate, or maintain a hospital, the hospital system or person shall pay the fee for the year as so adjusted, to the extent not previously paid.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, a hospital system or person who conducts, operates, or maintains a hospital, upon notice by the Department, shall pay the fee required under § 44-664.13 in accordance with subsection (a) of this section on the due date stated in the notice and on the regular installment due dates for the DFY occurring after the due date of the initial notice.

§ 44–664.16. Federal determinations; suspension and termination of assessment.

(a) If the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determines that an assessment imposed on a hospital pursuant to this subchapter does not satisfy the requirements for federal financial participation set forth in section 1903(w) of the Social Security Act, that determination shall not affect the validity, amount, applicable rate, or any other terms of an assessment on other hospitals imposed by this subchapter.

(b) If the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determines that an exclusion for specialty hospitals under this subchapter would prevent an assessment imposed by this subchapter from qualifying as a broad-based health care related tax, as that term is defined in section 1903(w)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act, the exclusion of specialty hospitals shall not be made.

§ 44–664.17. Rules.

The Mayor, subchapter I of Chapter 5 of Title 2, may issue rules to implement the provisions of this subchapter.

§ 44–664.18. Applicability; sunset.

This subchapter shall expire on September 30, 2029.