30-day notice to private pay required for nursing facilities
By Todd Bergstrom | November 22, 2023 | SNF/NF providers
For most nursing facilities, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) posted the January 1, 2024, rate notices to the
provider portal on November 15, 2023. According to statute DHS is required to notify nursing facilities of the January 1, 2024, rate adjustments by November 15, 2023, and when DHS meets this requirement nursing facilities must notify private pay residents of the January 1, 2024, rate increases, with a thirty (30) day notice.
Notice to private pay required
According to Minnesota statute:
- Nursing facilities are required to notify private paying residents or person responsible for payment of the increase in writing 30 days before the increase takes effect, and
- The notice must include the amount of the rate increase, the new payment rate, and the date the rate increase takes effect.
Unlike previous years when a nursing facility needed to login, nursing facility rate notices are now posted on the front page of the portal (see table at the bottom of website). Please note that:
- Seven-county metro nursing facility rates were audited
- Nearly all Greater Minnesota rates are not audited
- Six nursing facilities did not have a rate notice published; five of these have yet to be calculated fair rental value rates
Background on notice to private pay
According to
Minnesota Statute 256R.06 Subdivision 5 Paragraph (a):
No increase in nursing facility rates for private paying residents shall be effective unless the nursing facility notifies the resident or person responsible for payment of the increase in writing 30 days before the increase takes effect. The notice must include the amount of the rate increase, the new payment rate, and the date the rate increase takes effect.
According to Minnesota Statute 256R.06 Subdivision 5 Paragraph (b):
If the state does not set rates by the date required in section 256R.09, subdivision 1, or otherwise provides nursing facilities with retroactive notification of the amount of a rate increase, nursing facilities shall meet the requirement for advance notice by informing the resident or person responsible for payments, on or before the effective date of the increase, that a rate increase will be effective on that date. The requirements of paragraph (a) do not apply to situations described in this paragraph.
If the exact amount has not yet been determined, the nursing facility may raise the rates by the amount anticipated to be allowed. Any amounts collected from private pay residents in excess of the allowable rate must be repaid to private pay residents with interest at the rate used by the commissioner of revenue for the late payment of taxes and in effect on the date the rate increase is effective.
Finally, if your facility charges a private room differential, keep this federal regulation in mind:
§483.10(g)(18) The facility must inform each resident before, or at the time of admission, and periodically during the resident’s stay, of services available in the facility and of charges for those services, including any charges for services not covered under Medicare/ Medicaid or by the facility’s per diem rate.
(i) Where changes in coverage are made to items and services covered by Medicare and/or by the Medicaid State plan, the facility must provide notice to residents of the change as soon as is reasonably possible.
(ii) Where changes are made to charges for other items and services that the facility offers, the facility must inform the resident in writing at least 60 days prior to implementation of the change.
Please contact Todd Bergstrom at the Association if you have any questions.
Todd Bergstrom | Director of Research and Data Analysis |
tbergstrom@careproviders.org | 952-851-2486