(1) Except as provided in (6) through (9) for therapeutic home visits, payment will be made to a provider for holding a bed for a resident only if:

(a) the provider's facility is full and has a current waiting list of potential residents during each such bed day claimed for reimbursement;

(b) the resident for whom the bed is held is temporarily receiving medical services outside the facility, except in another nursing facility, and is expected to return to the provider;

(c) the cost of holding the bed will evidently be less costly than the possible cost of extending the hospital stay until an appropriate long term care bed would otherwise become available; and

(d) the provider has received written approval from the department's senior and long term care division as provided in (4) .

(2) For purposes of (1) , a provider will be considered full if:

(a) all Medicaid certified beds are occupied or being held for a recipient who is either temporarily receiving medical services outside the provider's facility or outside the facility on a therapeutic home visit; or

(b) as to gender, if all appropriate, available beds are occupied or being held. For example, if all beds are occupied or held except for one semi-private bed in a female room, the provider is full for purposes of hold days for male recipients.

(3) For purposes of (1) , the provider must maintain and, upon request, provide to the department or its agents documentation that the absence is expected to be temporary and of the anticipated duration of the absence. Temporary absences which are of indefinite duration must be documented at least weekly by the provider to assure that the absence is indeed temporary.

(4) A provider's request for the department's written approval of bed hold days as required in (1) must be submitted to the department's senior and long term care division on the form provided by the department within 90 days after the first day of the requested bed hold period. The request must include a copy of the waiting list applicable to each bed hold day claimed for reimbursement.

(5) Where the conditions of (1) through (4) are met, providers are required to hold a bed and may not fill the bed until these conditions are no longer met. The bed may not be filled unless prior approval is obtained from the department's senior and long term care division. In situations where conditions of billing for holding a bed are not met, providers must hold the bed and may not bill Medicaid for the bed hold day until all conditions of billing are met and may not bill the resident under any circumstances.

(6) Payment will be made to a provider for holding a bed for a resident during a therapeutic home visit only if:

(a) the recipient's plan of care provides for therapeutic home visits;

(b) the recipient is temporarily absent on a therapeutic home visit; and

(c) the resident is absent from the provider's facility for no more than 72 consecutive hours per absence, unless the department determines that a longer absence is medically appropriate and has authorized the longer absence in advance of the absence. If a resident leaves the facility unexpectedly, on a weekend or a non business day for a visit longer than 72 hours, a provider must call in to the department on the next business day to receive prior authorization for the visit. If a resident is unexpectedly delayed while out on a therapeutic home visit, a provider must call the department and receive prior authorization if that delay will result in the visit exceeding 72 hours or obtain an extension for a visit that was previously approved by the department in excess of 72 hours.

(7) The department may allow therapeutic home visits for trial placement in the Home and Community Services (Medicaid Waiver) program.

(8) No more than 24 days per resident in each rate year (July 1 through June 30) will be allowed for therapeutic home visits.

(9) The provider must submit to the department's Senior and Long Term Care Division a request for a therapeutic home visit bed hold, on the appropriate form provided by the department, within 90 days of the first day a resident leaves the facility for a therapeutic home visit. Reimbursement for therapeutic home visits will not be allowed unless the properly completed form is filed timely with the department's Senior and Long Term Care Division.

(10) Approvals or authorizations of bed hold days obtained from county offices will not be valid or effective for purposes of this rule.