The ICF/ID Assessment is a health-care related tax permitted by federal regulation and imposed by the Department of Human Services. Currently, the assessment is 6% of your revenues (depending on which revenue basis ODP selects).  The primary purpose of the assessment is to allow the Commonwealth to draw down additional federal funds, which, by the way, cannot be used for the ICF appropriation.

In the rate setting process, the amount of the annual assessment is added into your approved funding level, whether  your funding level is determined by the standard interim rate methodology or the waiver of the standard interim rate methodology.  So it is "a wash."  When the assessments began, the intention was that it would be no burden on the providers, and the Department committed to giving the providers the money (via the interim rate) before they started collected the assessment back.  The assessment rates were issued in July, so you could bill with the new rate immediately, and your first quarterly payment would not be due until October 25th.  

When the rates were issued in July, it was a simple calculation taking the prior year approved funding, subtracting the old assessment, then adding the new assessment, and recalculating the interim rate.  The assessment rates were temporary rates until you received your actual rate setting correspondence many months later.   After several years, ODP started issuing these rates in September and October, causing confusion with rate adjustment.    Due to the confusion and excess paperwork involved with the revised rates, beginning in FY 21-22, ODP changed the process to issuing the annual assessment, but NOT revising the rate.   

The assessment is collected via quarterly payments, with the last quarter being collected monthly.  Although ODP will calculate these amounts for you, it is the provider's responsibility to verify and sign off on them in a timely manner.

It is important to monitor you expenses to be sure that you are paying the amount of the assessment in each fiscal year, no more, no less.  

AZTAC tracks the ICF/MR assessments carefully.  Except when ODP changes their methodology, which they have done in recent years, we can pre-calculate your assessment, and verify the quarterly reports from the ODP.  Simply email any correspondence that your receive from the Department to mahaschert@aztacinc.com, and we will verify the numbers for you.