Adult Care Home News
by Rachel Owens
We now have some clarity when it comes to DHHS compliance for Adult Care Homes (ACH). Last year, the North Carolina General Assembly passed General Statute 131 D-4.1-4.3. It was under this statute, that the Adult Care Cost Report requirement returned. These cost reports are mandatory for facilities receiving State/County Special Assistance Program funds. Types of facilities subject to this requirement include nursing home combination facilities with adult care beds, mental health supervised living facilities, and all other adult care homes (Licensed under general Statute Chapters 131E, 122C, and 131D, respectively).
In addition to these cost reports, any of these facilities that are licensed for 7 or more beds, are to be audited. This audit is of the cost report information in the form of Agreed-Upon-Procedures (AUPs), that must be done by a certified public accountant (CPA)/independent accountant.
The requirements for the combination facilities are slightly different since they are based on the Medicare’s requirements of Skilled Nursing facilities. Combined nursing facilities should submit a cost report and related AUPs based on their last completed Medicare cost report, which in most cases covers October 2013 through September 2014.
Important Dates: For the mental health facilities, the reporting period is July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015. The reporting period for adult care home facilities is October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015.
The due date is December 31, 2015 for all facilities.
All facilities that do not receive any funds through the State/County Special Assistance Program are considered exempt and an exemption form must be completed. This form can be found on the DHHS Office of the Controller’s website at www.ncdhhs.gov/control.
The ACH cost report software is also available online, here. All questions related to the AUPs can be addressed to [email protected]. If you have questions about cost report and AUP preparation, please contact our office.