Property Cost Reimbursement

The process to submit claims for reimbursement of ancillary property charges for Prior Property Approval (PPA)-funded properties was formerly performed by the Department of Health (DOH). It is now a function of the OPWDD Capital Finance team.  Once reviewed and approved by OPWDD, these costs will be submitted to DOH for inclusion in reimbursement to provider agencies.

Requests for reimbursement of ancillary property charges (Real Estate Taxes, Common Area Maintenance Charges, and Co-op/Condo Fees) are made through the Charges and Taxes Worksheet (CTW). This document has been modified and detailed instructions have been developed to help providers ensure that claims for reimbursement of ancillary property charges are complete and can be processed in a timely manner.

The key aspects of this process, including timeframes, are as follows:

• OPWDD will accept claims for retroactive reimbursement of ancillary property charges in accordance with the following timelines:
  • Calendar year Consolidated Fiscal Report (CFR) filers can submit claims for costs incurred from 01/01/16 through 12/31/23.
  • Fiscal year CFR filers can submit claims for costs incurred from 07/01/15 through 06/30/23.
  • Documentation for all periods is due to OPWDD no later than 08/30/25.
• OPWDD will acknowledge receipt of claims when submitted to the centralized mailbox.  Once all claims for a provider have been reviewed and verified, OPWDD will submit a summary of the approved costs to DOH. This will include outstanding claims previously submitted to DOH where OPWDD has already requested supporting documentation. DOH will reconcile approved costs against previous payments and adjust rates accordingly on a rolling basis in accordance with established rate update schedules.
• OPWDD will not submit a package to DOH for a provider until costs for all sites have been submitted, reviewed and verified. Providers will be required to submit an attestation upon review of the OPWDD summary of approved costs indicating they agree with the final determination. OPWDD/DOH will not accept additional documentation or submissions for any provider after the attestation is signed and the package has been submitted to DOH. Each review is provider-specific and is not contingent on the submission of requests from other provider agencies.
• Prospectively, claims for periods ending on or after 12/31/2023 must be submitted within two (2) years of the last day of the reporting period as follows:
  • Calendar year CFR filers must submit claims for the reporting period of 01/01/24 through 12/31/24 by no later than 12/31/26.
  • Fiscal year CFR filers must submit claims for the reporting period of 07/01/23 through 06/30/24 by no later than 06/30/26.

Late submissions will not be accepted and, therefore, will not be eligible for reimbursement. OPWDD is working to streamline this process and will notify providers of any changes.

• Approval of ancillary charge reimbursement for leased properties will be limited to the term of the PPA-approved lease agreement. If a program continues to operate following the expiration of the PPA-approved lease term, rent reimbursement will continue in the amount of the last PPA-approved annual rent; however, requests for reimbursement of ancillary charges for rate periods after lease expiration will be placed on hold until such time as a new PPA is approved. Ancillary charge reimbursement for any month-to-month tenancy will require landlord/tenant attestation of the rent holdover status and will be adjusted retroactively upon approval of the new PPA.

Claims for reimbursement and questions about submitting claims and/or the verification process should be submitted directly to OPWDD Capital Finance’s Ancillary Charges team at [email protected]. 

View the Ancillary Reimbursement Training