10/05/2016
QIT Q&As: Estate Disposition, Long Hospital Stays
Two new questions that relate to Qualified Income Trusts (QITs) have been answered by officials at the Ohio Department of Medicaid this week. These are:
Question:
Please clarify procedures for the disposition of QIT funds after a resident is deceased.
Answer:
The Ohio Department of Medicaid provided the following as its “official response”, from the Estate Recovery Unit about QIT funds after a resident is deceased. It asks that providers disregard any previous direction on this matter.
“ODM has spoken with the Estate Recovery unit at the Attorney General’s office and they indicated that when a NF resident with a QIT passes away, a NF serving as trustee should contact Estate Recovery. Notifying the Attorney General immediately that estate recovery should commence will be much cleaner than sending a check with remaining funds to ODM. This equally applies when someone other than the NF is serving as trustee (like a family member). Please note that estate recovery is not limited to long term care expenditures; rather, the Attorney General’s office recovers all Medicaid expenditures. The Estate Recovery unit can be reached at:
Ohio Attorney General’s Office
Medicaid Estate Recovery Unit
150 E. Gay Street, 21st Floor
Columbus,OH 43215-3130
(888) 246-0688
(614) 752-2211
(614) 752-9070 fax
Question:
Jane Jones is a Medicaid beneficiary who resides in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) and has monthly income below the SIL ($1,000 per month). Jane goes to the hospital and returns to the SNF on a Part A stay, which lasts for three months. During the three months, Jane has no patient liability because her care is not being paid by Medicaid. The SNF receives and holds Jane’s income for those three months. At the end of Jane’s Part A stay, she does not leave the SNF, but stays on as a Medicaid patient. At that time, the SNF turns Jane’s income for the three months over to her, and she quickly spends enough of it on personal items to reduce the amount below the $2,000 asset limit.
Would receipt of the $3,000 in income for the past periods be considered a lump sum that would require Jane to create a QIT, since it is over the SIL?
Answer:
The Ohio Department of Medicaid provided the following response:
“In the scenario described, the $1000 per month is income in the month received and a resource if it is carried into the next month. At the point the individual’s total resources exceed the resource limit for their category of Medicaid, they are ineligible for Medicaid and could be terminated until the individual verifies their resources are below the resource limit. For example: individual has $1500 in her bank account and receives $1000 in income. The income is not spent and just sits at the NF. The month following receipt she has resources of $2500 and is no longer eligible for Medicaid.”
