FAQs from the 2024 Home Care Cost Report Kickoff Webinar held on June 5, 2025

• FAQs Also available in Portable Document Format (PDF)

Topic: General
Q.1. Will there be any changes to the process for uploading supporting documentation to the Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) site during the 2024 Cost Report submission? A.1. During the 2023 Cost Report submission process, an additional level of data security was implemented, which required two-factor authentication. We will be using the same SFTP site and two-factor authentication process in 2024. To assist the agencies, we created a new step-by-step SFTP site Guide based on feedback from the prior year. SFTP site passwords were reset and sent on June 10, 2025. The email included the updated guide along with the new credentials. SFTP access instructions will also be posted in the "Home Care Cost Report Materials" Section on DOH website.
Q.2. What email should we use to contact the Department of Health? A.2. Please contact the Department of Health at CHHA-Rates@health.ny.gov or PersonalCare-Rates@health.ny.gov.
Q.3. When will the 2025 rates be available? A.3. Please contact the Department of Health at CHHA-Rates@health.ny.gov or PersonalCare-Rates@health.ny.gov for questions regarding rates.
Q.4. Where can I access the 2024 Home Care Cost Report Submission Kickoff presentation? A.4. The presentation will be available within the "Instructions" tab in the "Useful Links" section of the web-based Tool. The presentation will also be available on the Department's website under "Home Care Cost Report Outreach Sessions."
Q.5. How do we obtain a budgeted rate for a new county? A.5. Please contact the Department of Health at CHHA-Rates@health.ny.gov or PersonalCare-Rates@health.ny.gov for questions regarding rates.
Q.6. How long can we expect to receive a response after we send an email to the KPMG mailbox? A.6. We strive to respond to all questions within 72 hours and do our best to respond as soon as possible.
Q.7. What are the next steps following the Cost Report rate appeal process for a prior cost report year? A.7. Please contact the Department of Health at CHHA-Rates@health.ny.gov or PersonalCare-Rates@health.ny.gov for questions regarding the rate appeal process.
Q.8. Can we expect any changes to the 2024 Cost Report prior to the submission deadline? A.8. All 2024 updates that were anticipated, have been fully implemented and tested prior to the go-live date on May 30, 2025. No other changes are anticipated at this time.
Q.9. When reaching out to KPMG mailbox, can we send encrypted emails? A.9. Due to KPMG data security requirements, we are unable to open and read encrypted emails. If your agency is unable to send a message without encryption, please post your inquiry in the "Provider Questions" tab within the Tool.
Web-based Tool
Q.10. My agency is receiving an error message when submitting a password reset request. What should I do next? A.10. Please reach out to the KPMG mailbox at us-advrisknyshc@kpmg.com for further guidance.
Q.11. Does the Home Care Tool permit the printing of the General Questionnaire and the Reporting Hierarchy? A.11. The "Reporting" tab will allow you to create PDF documents of your cost report submission, general questionnaire responses, and schedule-specific questionnaire responses. Within each schedule on the "Cost Report Schedules" tab, you may also create a PDF of an individual schedule by clicking the "Print Schedule" link.
Q.12. Will the validation checks be tested prior to the opening of the 2024 Cost Report Tool? A.12. All validation checks were tested prior to the go-live date of the 2024 Home Care Cost Report on May 30, 2025. However, if your agency experiences any issues with validation checks these during the submission process, please reach out to the KPMG mailbox at us-advrisknyshc@kpmg.com and we will do our best to respond to all questions within 72 hours.
Q.13. Is it possible to export the General Questionnaire as an Excel file to help our agency keep track of our responses? A.13. This functionality is currently under development for use by the KPMG Auditors. Please contact the KPMG mailbox at us-advrisknyshc@kpmg.com to see if we can assist you further for your specific agency.
Q.14. Our agency's auditor requested a printout of the cost report submission. In particular, they would like printouts of the questions that appear at the top of the schedules. When printing the schedules prior to entering data, those questions do not print. Would it be possible to have those print along with the schedule? A.14. Within the "Reporting" tab of the web-based Tool, you will find a report entitled "Cost Report Questionnaire Printout," which generates a printout displaying all questions listed at
the top of each Schedule.
Q.15. Will the Supporting Documentation template for the 2024 Cost Report be the same as it was in 2023? A.15. There were slight updates made to the 2024 Supporting Documentation template. If your agency is already using the 2023 template, it may continue to use that version as there were no structural changes. The updated template was attached to the May 30, 2025 2024 cost report Tool launch email and is also available within the "Instructions" tab in the "Useful Links" section of the web-based Tool.
Cost Reporting
Q.16. If a LHCSA also serves several Nursing Home Transition and Diversion program (NHTD) clients, should those costs and statistics be included into the Home Care Cost Report or should they be excluded since there is a separate NHTD Cost Report? A.16. NHTD is considered a nonreimbursable service for the purposes of the Home Care Cost Report. As such, costs and statistics for NHTD services should be reported within the "other nonreimbursable services" row on Schedules 3 and 5.
Q.17. If an agency was not paid for nursing assessment and/or supervision, is this considered a nonreimbursable cost for the purposes of the Home Care Cost Report? A.17. If nonbillable nursing assessment and/or supervision services were provided in conjunction with other billable home care services (e.g., PC Level I, PC level II, etc.), then the agency should allocate its nursing assessment/supervision costs to the billable service rows on Schedule 3 (e.g., PC Level I row 001, etc.). These costs should be reported in the Program Aide (Direct Care) column 006 on Schedule 3. However, the nursing assessment/supervision statistics should not be reported on Schedule 5 as they were nonbillable, and as such, a rate is not needed for those services.
Q.18. If an agency answers "no" to the new question on Schedule 7 regarding whether the agency provided services to private-pay patients, will the rate not be limited to the private pay rate since the agency didn't provide services to private-pay patients? A.18. The purpose of adding this question to the 2024 Home Care Cost Report was to reduce the number of schedules required for completion if not applicable to your agency; it is not expected to impact the rate calculation. Please contact the Department of Health at CHHA-Rates@health.ny.gov or PersonalCare-Rates@health.ny.gov for further clarification regarding rates.
Q.19. Does the new 'Yes/No' question that was added to Schedule 7 in the 2024 Cost Report regarding whether the agency provided services to private-pay patients, apply to all counties? How should the agency respond if private-pay patients were only served in one county, but not all counties? A.19. If your agency has a public charge rate for one entity (county) and not others, the agency should select "yes" and complete Schedule 7 for that entity only on Schedule 7.
Q.20. If an agency only provided CHHA Episodic Medicaid services, how should the agency report statistics on Schedule 5a? A.20. If an agency only serves CHHA episodic adult patients, this should be noted as such within the corresponding question in the "Reporting Hierarchy" tab. Statistics should be reported on Schedule 5a in the CHHA Episodic section of that Schedule. The CHHA pediatric section will not be available for data entry as a result of the agency's response to the corresponding question in the "Reporting Hierarchy" tab.
Q.21. Does a 2024 Home Care Cost Report need to be filed for CDPAP providers that are no longer active in 2025 due to regulations? A.21. If an agency billed for Medicaid services in the 2024 calendar year, a 2024 Home Care Cost Report is required to be submitted.
Q. 22. Our agency follows the Medicare Cost Report allocation, which varies from the Financial Statement allocations. Must the Home Care Cost Report reconcile to our agency's Financial Statement, and not include Medicare Adjustments? A.22. As mentioned in the 2024 Cost Report Instructions , in addition to source documentation, agencies must provide all crosswalks, allocations, reconciliations, and/or explanations that demonstrate how the cost report amounts for each schedule trace back to the source data. Relevant supporting documentation for various Schedules has been provided by the DOH for this purpose and can be found within the "Useful Links" section of the Instructions tab in the Tool. 2024 Home care cost report Instructions have also been posted online on the DOH website.