Offsets to costs

1. Several items of income must be considered as offsets against various costs as recorded in the books of the facility. Income received by the facility in any form must be offset up to the total of the appropriate allowable costs, with the following exceptions: a. The established rate; b. Income from payments made under the Job Training Partnership Act; c. Income from charges for private rooms or special services; d. Noncovered bed hold days; or e. The deferred portion of patronage dividends credited to the facility and not previously offset. 2. If actual costs are not identifiable, income must be offset up to the total of costs as described in this section. If costs relating to income are reported in more than one cost category, the income must be offset in the ratio of the costs in each of the cost categories. Sources of income and the related offset include: a. Activities income. Income from the activities department and the gift shop must be offset to activity costs. b. Bad debt recovery. Income for bad debts previously claimed must be offset to administration costs in total in the year of recovery. c. Dietary income. Amounts received from or on behalf of employees, guests, or other nonresidents for lunches, meals, or snacks must be offset to dietary and food costs. d. Drugs or supplies income. Amounts received from the sale of resident care supplies to employees, doctors, or others not admitted as residents must be offset to resident care supplies. e. Insurance recoveries income. Any amount received from insurance for a loss incurred must be offset against the appropriate cost category, regardless of when or if the cost is incurred, if the facility did not adjust the basis for depreciable assets. f. Interest or investment income. Interest received on investments, except amounts earned on funded depreciation or from earnings on gifts where the identity remains intact, must be offset to interest expense. g. Laundry income. All amounts received for laundry services rendered to or on behalf of employees, doctors, or others must be offset to laundry costs. h. Other cost-related income. Miscellaneous income, including amounts generated through the sale of a previously expensed or depreciated item, e.g., supplies or equipment, must be offset, in total, to the cost category where the item was expensed or depreciated. i. Rentals of facility space income. Revenues received from outside sources for the use of facility space and equipment must be offset to property costs. j. Telephone income. Revenues received from residents, guests, or employees for use of a telephone must be offset to administration costs. Income from emergency answering services need not be offset. k. Therapy income. Income from all therapy services must be offset to licensed health care professional costs. l. Vending income. Income from the sale of beverages, candy, or other items must be offset to the cost of the vending items or, if the cost is not identified, all vending income must be offset to the cost category where vending costs are recorded. 3. Purchase discounts, allowances, refunds, and rebates are reductions of the cost of whatever was purchased. 4. Payments to a provider by its vendor must ordinarily be treated as purchase discounts, allowances, refunds, or rebates, even though these payments may be treated as "contributions" or "unrestricted grants" by the provider and the vendor. Payments that represent a true donation or grant need not be treated as purchase discounts, allowances, refunds, or rebates. Examples of payments that represent a true donation or grant include contributions made by a vendor in response to building or other fundraising campaigns in which communitywide contributions are solicited or when the volume or value of purchases is so nominal that no relationship to the contribution can be inferred. The provider shall provide verification, satisfactory to the department, to support a claim that a payment represents a true donation. 5. Where an owner, agent, or employee of a provider directly receives from a vendor monetary payments or goods or services for the owner's, agent's, or employee's own personal use as a result of the provider's purchases from the vendor, the value of the payments, goods, or services constitutes a type of refund or rebate and must be applied as a reduction of the provider's cost for goods or services purchased from the vendor. 6. Where the purchasing function for a provider is performed by a central unit or organization, all discounts, allowances, refunds, and rebates must be credited to costs of the provider and may not be treated as income by the central unit or organization or used to reduce the administrative costs of the central unit or organization.