Opinion ID: 4537297
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Hearing Officer’s Ruling

Text: ¶78. The hearing officer rejected the DOM’s calculation of the NBV. Instead, the hearing officer ruled, Under the old Plan language, as of 2014, Methodist’s new bed value was $226,737.37 (new bed value, $52,954 plus 328.178%). Even though Methodist’s own new bed cost estimate is $295,286, it is requesting a cost per bed valuation of $390,498. Clearly, this is too high. On the other hand, DOM assigned Methodist a new bed value of only $159,600, which is less than the cost of building the facility in 2004. Costs did not go down between 2004 and 2015. Clearly, this is too low. Methodist was the only nursing home to receive a decrease in new bed value, and its decrease is substantial. However, this decrease was the result of a 31 mistake in the calculation of the adjustment, as noted above. Using the proper calculation under the new Plan (new bed value, $91,200 plus 175%) provides a new bed calculation of $250,800, which provides Methodist an increase which reasonably represents the competitive cost of constructing a new NFSD bed. (Emphasis added.) ¶79. The hearing officer gave very little detailed rationale for this decision. The hearing officer gave us no information to base his conclusions of “too high” and “too low.” Unlike the DOM, however, the hearing officer simply applied the NBV and the revised payment add-on, as the DOM had done since 2004 in Methodist’s calculation. There is no doubt that the hearing officer rejected the DOM’s calculation.