This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.
On Nov. 18, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) issued a series of significant updates to the Retention Payment Program FAQs.
Many of these updates will create significant impacts on a hospital’s Retention Payment Program application. They include:
- Permitting rural health clinics and other clinics that are eligible for the clinic workforce stabilization retention program to be included in the hospital retention program
- Explicitly stating that nurse registries are covered services employers
- Explicitly stating that the last four digits of the Social Security number are permissible on the application
- Explicitly stating that on-site administrative staff are eligible for the retention payment
Notably, the FAQs also address what constitutes “on-site” and when hospitals need to register as systems versus as individual entities. CHA has requested clarification from DHCS on several new entries in the FAQs and will share its response via CHA News.
Additionally, on Nov. 23, DHCS released an application template for the Retention Payment Program. The template permits hospitals and other covered entities to begin to collect data prior to registration or as a reference. Finally, DHCS notes that additional guidance will be released on the retention payment landing web page when the application becomes available on Nov. 29.
