Dear Administrator: CHHA 2004 Software

May 27, 2005

Dear Administrator:

In accordance with Part 86-1.46 of the Commissioner's Administrative Rules and Regulations, all Certified Home Health Agencies (CHHA) shall complete and file annual financial and statistical report forms. The CHHA software will be available for downloading from the Health Provider Network (HPN) and all electronic submissions of the CHHA cost report MUST be made through HPN.

It is anticipated that the software will be available on the Internet no later than June 1, 2005. Please be advised that the due date of the cost report will be July 31, 2005. NO EXTENSIONS BEYOND THIS DATE WILL BE GRANTED. The originally executed copies of both the operator's and accountant's certification must be United States Postal Service postmarked (meter postmarks are not acceptable) on or before July 31, 2005. If an agency files this information after the required due dates, penalties will be assessed in accordance with Part 86-1.3(c) and Section 12-d of the Public Health Law.

Please notify all appropriate personnel, including your accounting firms, of the filing requirements for the cost report and please begin compiling the cost report information as soon as possible in order to avoid any late filing penalties.

A cost report submission is not considered complete and timely filed until ALL required information is received by the Department. The following is a list of items that render a cost report submission incomplete, inaccurate, or incorrect:

  • The certification of the operator has not been received.
  • The certification of the operator has been found unacceptable.
  • The CPA certification has not been received.
  • The CPA certification has been found unacceptable.

Health Provider Network (HPN) Address

You may download the software from the department's Internet-Based Health Provider Network. This may be accessed at https://commerce.health.state.ny.us/hpn. Once you have reached this page, you will need to access the section entitled "Programs" and then click on the Program Area for the Division of Health Care Financing. Once you have reached our division's Home Page, you may access the Certified Home Health Agency (CHHA) Cost Report 2004 for download.

Certified Home Health Agency Cost Report Data Security

The Department has developed a data security system. Once your cost report passes all edits and is finalized, a Declaration Control Number (DCN) will appear on the computer screen and each page of report printouts. Any change in the cost report will cause the DCN to be erased and another DCN will not be generated until the report is finalized again. Please refer to the HELP section of the CHHA software for information on creating the Final Cost Report and the DCN Number.

Filing the Report

The Department will begin accepting the reports when you receive this letter. When the report has been successfully filed with the Department's computer, the agency will receive an electronic acknowledgment indicating the report is accepted and echoing back the DCN for the agency's report. This will happen each time that the agency files a report with a different DCN. Reports with the same DCN will be rejected after the first report is accepted.

An agency may file as many reports as it deems necessary before the July 31, 2005 deadline. If multiple reports are filed, the Department will deem the last report filed for an agency as the agency's final report. If an agency does not want its last report filed to be its final report, it must notify the Bureau, in writing, specifying its final report by its DCN.

Should you have any problems or questions regarding the electronic mail network please contact the HELP line at 1-800-638-3808.

If you have any questions concerning the cost report, please contact the Home Care Unit at (518) 473-8910.

Sincerely,

Kathleen E. Gill
Director
Bureau of Long Term Care Reimbursement

Enclosures