FY 2019 Uncompensated Trauma Care Fund Distribution (5111) – August 2021

The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), EMS & Trauma Systems is pleased to announce that the disbursements for the FY 2019 Uncompensated Trauma Care Fund distributions occurred the week of August 16, 2021.

The disbursement will serve two purposes: 1) Ensure that any hospital that received the Medicaid SDA “Trauma Add-On” did not receive less than the amount calculated for the DSHS FY 2019 uncompensated trauma care disbursement; and 2) Distribute funds in the Comptroller Account # 5111 to all hospitals that were eligible for the FY 2019 Uncompensated Trauma Care disbursement.

As reminder and for reference, see New Process for Hospitals receiving SDA “Trauma Add-On” below for more information.

Background information on the accounts

Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter §780.004 directs DSHS to use 96% of funds in the DTF/EMS Account (Fund 5111) to fund a portion of uncompensated trauma care provided at hospitals designated as state trauma facilities or a hospital meeting “in active pursuit” requirements.

Uncompensated trauma care disbursement methodology

Calculations are made in the following manner:

• Calendar Year (CY) 2017 uncompensated trauma care charges reported by eligible hospitals on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Uncompensated Trauma Care Fund Application (Hospital Allocation) were used in the funding formula. 
• Fifteen percent (15%) of the total amount of funds available was divided equally amongst all eligible applicants.
• The remaining eighty-five percent (85%) was distributed to eligible applicants based on the percentage of uncompensated trauma care a hospital provided in relation to the total uncompensated trauma care provided by all the eligible hospitals that applied.

Process for hospitals receiving SDA “trauma add on”

In an effort to maximize the availability of Federal Funds under Medicaid for the purposes of providing reimbursement for uncompensated trauma care at designated facilities and providing increases in Medicaid inpatient provider rates, the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) entered into an interagency contract to allow for the transfer of funds from General Revenue-Dedicated Designated Trauma Facility and EMS Account No. 5111, from DSHS to HHSC for this purpose. This interagency contract would allow for the transfer of the Account No. 5111 funds to the extent that the use of these funds in this manner would not reduce reimbursements that otherwise would have been provided for uncompensated trauma care to designated facilities.

DSHS is required to follow the same methodology as in years past to calculate the amount of the uncompensated trauma care disbursement for each eligible hospital, including the SDA hospitals receiving the “trauma add on.” DSHS has entered the data provided in the Uncompensated Trauma Care Applications to calculate the formula to determine the disbursement amounts for the DSHS uncompensated trauma care disbursement. HHSC provided DSHS with the amounts hospitals received from the SDA “trauma add on.” The rule requires that DSHS compare the total amount each SDA hospital received in the HHSC “trauma add on” payments to the amount calculated for the DSHS uncompensated trauma care funding disbursement. If a hospital receives less in the “trauma add on” payments than in the amount calculated for the DSHS uncompensated trauma care disbursement, then DSHS will make a disbursement to the hospital to cover the difference. If a hospital receives more from the HHSC “trauma add on” payments than the DSHS uncompensated trauma care disbursement, then the hospital will not receive a payment from DSHS.

The total amount of disbursed payments for the FY 2019 Uncompensated Trauma Care Calculations and SDA Trauma Add-On:
FY19 Fund 5111 UCC/SDA Payment Details (August 2021)

Questions

If you have questions about the SDA “trauma add on,” please contact HHSC Provider Finance Section at PFD_Hospitals@hhsc.state.tx.us.

Please contact DSHS EMS/Trauma Systems at fundingapp@dshs.texas.gov if you have any questions about the uncompensated trauma care funding