1. (1) Retainer days shall mean days during which an individual is on medical leave from the community residence, or associated days when any other institutional or in-patient Medicaid payment is made for providing services to the individual.

   1. (i) Retainer days shall be reimbursed at zero dollars.
   2. (ii) At the mid-point and again at the conclusion of the period ending June 30, 2015, DOH will reconcile the services recorded under the retainer days in order to determine the amount of reimbursement owed to the provider. Providers shall be paid for retainer days at the level described in subdivision (a) of this section.
   3. (iii) Providers shall not be paid for more than 14 retainer days per annual period for any one individual.
2. (2) Therapeutic leave days shall mean days during which an individual is away from the community residence and is not receiving services from residential habilitation staff, and the absence is for the purpose of visiting with family or friends, or a vacation. Therapeutic leave days shall be reimbursed at the level described in subdivision (a) of this section.
3. (3) Vacant bed days shall mean days for which the provider is unable to bill due to a resident moving from one residential site to another, or due to a resident passing away. At the conclusion of the period ending June 30, 2015, providers will be paid for vacant bed days at 75 percent of the level described in subdivision (a) of this section up to a maximum of 90 days per bed.

4. (c) For periods subsequent to June 30, 2015:

   1. (1) The daily rate, as determined pursuant to this Subpart, excluding section 641-1.8 will be adjusted to include an occupancy factor.
   2. (2) Retainer days shall be reimbursed at the daily rate as determined pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subdivision. Such reimbursement shall be limited to 14 days per individual.
   3. (3) Therapeutic leave days shall be reimbursed per individual at the daily rate as determined pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subdivision.

(a) Transition to new methodology.

The reimbursement methodology described in this Subpart will be phased-in over a three-year period, with a year for purposes of the transition period meaning a 12 month period from July 1st to the following June 30th, and with full implementation in the beginning of the fourth year. During this transition period, the base operating rate will transition to the target rate as determined by the reimbursement methodology described in this Subpart, according to the phase-in schedule immediately below. The base operating rate will remain fixed and the target rate, as determined by the reimbursement methodology in this Subpart, will be updated to reflect rebasing of cost data, trend factors and other appropriate adjustments.

(b) Transition from monthly to daily units of service.

Reimbursement for residential habilitation provided in supervised community residences shall be according to a daily unit of service. From the period beginning July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015, providers that receive reimbursement of residential habilitation in supervised community residences pursuant to this Subpart shall determine and report to DOH retainer days, therapeutic leave days and vacant bed days.