As a result of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, CMS posted a notice on its website last month granting a 31-day extension to IPPS hospitals in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to submit FFY 2014 and FFY 2015 revised Worksheet S-10's. CMS subsequently issued a Technical Direction Letter (TDL) extending the same 31-day extension to file updated FFY 2014 and 2015 Worksheet S-10’s to October 31, 2017 for ALL IPPS providers.
We were informed from multiple clients that select MACs were communicating that the TDL extension still only applied to those limited states affected by hurricanes. SCA has confirmed directly with multiple MAC contacts and CMS' Division of Acute Care that the extended deadline does in fact, apply to ALL IPPS hospitals.
If you have not seen the TDL, it reads:
For Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) hospitals, this Technical Direction Letter (TDL) grants an extension from September 30, 2017 until October 31, 2017 for all IPPS hospitals to resubmit certain Worksheet S-10 data. As described in the FY 2018 IPPS/Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System (LTCH PPS) final rule (82 FR 38208, August 14, 2017), our initial deadline had been September 30, 2017. For revisions to be considered, we are modifying the deadline such that amended FY 2014 and FY 2015 cost reports due to revised or initial submissions of Worksheet S-10 must be received by Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) on or before October 31, 2017.
We encourage you to submit your Worksheet S-10 data as soon as it is ready and not wait until the October 31st deadline to ensure your submissions are received and accepted. Waiting until the deadline will not provide you a buffer in case an issue is found in your cost report filing and your submission is rejected. Also, be mindful of the recently released Transmittal 11 which makes a number of revisions to the instructions for reporting data on cost report Worksheet S-10.
Finally, you can obtain specific instructions from your MAC regarding how to send in your revised cost report, whether that be a reopening or an amended cost report that has not previously been settled, etc.
Did anyone let out a sign of relief when CMS extended the deadline to all IPPS hospitals? If so, how does this extension benefit your hospital? What will you do with the extended time...take another look at what you are reporting...review certain line items in greater detail? We want to hear your thoughts...submit a comment below.
