SALARY COSTS AND STAFFING STANDARDS
§ 1181.241. General administration salaries.
(a) Salaries of the facility’s administrator, comptroller, purchasing agent, personnel director, pharmacy consultant and other persons performing general supervision or management duties shall be includable in the general administration allowance.
(b) Compensation of owners, officers or persons other than facility employes means actual payment during the cost reporting period on a current basis of salary or benefits for services rendered to the facility.
(c) If a person performs work customarily performed by different or several types of employes, the cost of the salary and other compensation allowable for the person shall be determined by the prorated customary salary and other compensation paid to employes for performing the same types of work in accordance with the methodology established in subsection (f). This cost will be allowable only if adequate documentation verifying the cost is supplied by the facility. Adequate documentation consists of a job description defining the responsibilities of the person and time records documenting the allocation of the person’s time for the performance of each type of work on a daily basis. The cost of salary and other compensation paid to the person for work performed shall be recorded as general administration costs.
(d) The salary or compensation costs of owners, operators or persons other than facility employes may be included only to the extent of their documented time and involvement in the required management of a facility.
(e) The allowable cost for a person performing necessary duties may not exceed the customary compensation and fringe benefits, as determined in accordance with the methodology established in subsection (f) that an employe would normally receive while performing that work.
(f) The cost of customary compensation and fringe benefits for employes performing necessary duties in general facilities, excluding hospital-based and special rehabilitation facilities, will be based on an average of the cost of the compensation and fringe benefits of employes performing the same work in enrolled general facilities, excluding hospital-based and special rehabilitation facilities, which are located in the county in which the facility is located and in counties within this Commonwealth which are contiguous to that county. The cost of customary compensation and fringe benefits for employes performing necessary duties in hospital-based, special rehabilitation and county facilities will be based upon separate Statewide averages of the cost of enrolled facilities of each type for the compensation and fringe benefits of employes performing the same work.
(g) The cost of general administrative salaries and benefits are included within the 12% overall maximum allowance, prorated between skilled nursing and intermediate care units, for general administration costs.
Source The provisions of this § 1181.241 adopted August 5, 1983, effective July 1, 1983, 13 Pa.B. 2402.
Notes of Decisions Allowable Costs
Department of Public Welfare’s regulations capping the amount of reimbursement to Medical Assistance providers for nursing care excludes salaries of unit managers and director of infection control program; even though the managers and director had nursing degrees, they did not provide direct patient care and therefore their salaries did not constitute ‘‘nursing costs.’’ St. Ignatius v. Department of Public Welfare, 918 A.2d 838, 845-846 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2007)
Nursing home’s purchase of bereavement flowers for nursing facility employees was not an expense that was related to the proper care of nursing reimbursement facility residents; therefore, Department of Public Welfare properly excluded the expense from facility’s allowable Medical Assistance costs. St. Ignatius v. Department of Public Welfare, 918 A.2d 838, 846-847 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2007)
In order for general administration salaries of a skilled nursing facility to be included in allowable cost reimbursement, language must be included in documenting the responsibilities of the person and time records evidencing the allocation of that person’s time to each type of work. Carbondale Nursing Home, Inc. v. Department of Public Welfare, 548 A.2d 376 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1988).
Salary Averages
Where proprietors of a nursing facility introduced documents to show that the salaries fell within a range of salaries paid to persons performing similar duties in facilities within the same area, the auditor was not required to base his calculations on a range of salaries, but rather on an ‘‘average.’’ Siemon’s Lakeview Manor Estate v. Department of Public Welfare, 703 A.2d 551 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1997).
In order for general administration salaries of a skilled nursing facility to be included in allowable cost reimbursement, language must be included in documenting the responsibilities of the person and time records evidencing the allocation of that person’s time to each type of work. Carbondale Nursing Home, Inc. v. Department of Public Welfare, 548 A.2d 376 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1988).
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