Upcoming Changes to Medicare Home Office Cost Reports: Are You Ready?

2/5/2024 - By Chris Biedal

Key Updates for Medicare Home Office Cost Reports:

New CMS Form 287-22 will replace Form 287-05.
Form 287-22 is effective for cost-reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2022.
The certification page now allows for electronic signatures.
ECR and PI files are now required as part of the submission.
Ability to submit through the Medicare Cost Report e-filing (MCReF) portal.
Level 1 edits will need to be cleared before submitting.
Nearly all schedules have been renamed or updated, which more closely aligns with other Medicare cost report types.

Late last year, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced the release of CMS Form 287-22, better known as the Home Office Cost Statement. The new form is effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2022, and supersedes the previously used form, 287-05.

For the many home office and provider entities who use December 31st cost reporting year ends, this means that the upcoming December 31, 2023, year-end will be the first reporting period in which this form will be used. While there are several key changes to the new form, one of the most important updates is the inclusion of an electronic signature to the certification. Previously, the old 287-05 form required a wet signature and hard copy submission to the MAC. The new 287-22 form will require the inclusion of an encrypted ECR and PI file, along with the same electronic signature requirements as Medicare Cost Reports for other provider types. Additionally, the new form allows submission through the MCReF portal.

Other major revisions to the new form are listed below. As you’ll notice, many worksheet schedules have been updated to resemble the schedules more closely as they are used for other cost reports, such as form 2540-10 for SNFs and the recently updated form 1728-20 for HHAs.

Table

Visit www.cms.gov/files/document/r1p248i.pdf for more information. If you have questions regarding the Medicare Home Office Cost Reports, please contact the Healthcare Consulting Team at Saltmarsh.

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About the Author | Chris Biedal
Chris is a senior in the Healthcare Consulting practice of Saltmarsh, Cleaveland & Gund. His primary areas of focus include cost reporting, support in Medicaid and Medicare bad debt audits, Proof of Financial Ability preparation, process improvement and data analysis. Prior to joining Saltmarsh, Chris worked as a staff accountant for a large skilled nursing facility chain where he prepared annual Medicare and Medicaid cost reports and conducted financial analyses for multiple facilities.