As outlined in SPECIAL BULLETIN COVID-19 #213: Direct Care Worker ICF-IID Wage Increase, effective Feb. 1, 2022, NC Medicaid increased the Intermediate Care Facilities for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF-IID) provider assessment by $6.94, to a rate of $27.30 per licensed bed day, to support enhanced ICF-IID per diem rates.
The $6.94 figure accounts for the temporarily enhanced federal match in place as part of the federal COVID-19 response. NC Medicaid will adjust the provider assessment amount upward over each of the next four quarters, as that temporarily enhanced federal match adjusts downward consistent with federal law. The ICF-IID per diem rate funded by the assessments will remain the same.
Provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) signed into law March 18, 2020, allowed states meeting certain requirements to be eligible for enhanced federal match of Medicaid payments during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE). The ICF-IID provider assessment, which is authorized to fund part of the non-federal share of ICF-IID per diem rates, was temporarily reduced by the presence of the temporarily enhanced federal match. Had this enhanced match not been in place on Feb. 1, 2022, the provider assessment rate increase put into effect on that date would have been higher.
Provisions of the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 signed into law on Dec. 29, 2022, severed the linkage between the enhanced federal match and the end of the COVID-19 PHE. Instead, the Act identified a phased reduction of the enhanced federal match beginning April 1, 2023. Consequently, NC Medicaid will adjust the ICF-IID provider assessment rate as identified below to continue supporting the same level of per diem rates as outlined in Medicaid Special Bulletin #213:
ICF-IID provider assessments are due within 15 days of the last day of the reporting month. For example, payment at the new rate for the reporting month of April 2023 is due by May 15, 2023.
Providers must complete and submit provider assessments timely to assure the assessment is calculated at the proper rate.
Contact
NC Medicaid Contact Center: 888-245-0179