Public notice
Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
Notice of Dollar Amount Adjustments for Repair Charges Subject to Mechanic's Liens
Under s.
779.41 (1), Stats., mechanics or repair businesses who transport, repair or perform any work on personal property at the request of the owner have a statutory lien on the property for the just and reasonable charges associated with the work, and may retain possession of the property until the charges are paid.
Generally, a mechanic's lien under s.
779.41, Stats., has priority over any previously recorded security interest in the personal property but only for the appropriate charges at the specified dollar amounts below.
Under s.
779.41 (1m), Stats., the Department is required to annually publish adjusted dollar amounts for charges on repairs to personal property subject to mechanic's liens. The adjustments are based on the annual change in the consumer price index, all items, U.S. city average, as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Department has determined that current dollar amounts specified under ss.
779.41 (1),
(1) (a),
(1) (b), and
(1) (c) shall be increased by 3.4%, according to the prior year annual change in the consumer price index. Thus, the dollar amounts for charges under the mechanic's lien law are adjusted as follows:
Under s.
779.41 (1), mechanic's liens generally, $1,695.
Under s.
779.41 (1) (a), mechanic's liens on a trailer or semi-trailer designed for use with a road tractor, $5,085.
Under s.
779.41 (1) (b), mechanic's liens on road machinery, including mobile cranes, trench hoes, farm tractors, machines of husbandry, or off-highway construction vehicles and equipment, $8,475.
1. More than 10,000 and less than 20,000 pounds, $3,390.
2. 20,000 pounds or more, but less than 40,000 pounds, $6,695.
3. 40,000 pounds or more, but less than 60,000 pounds, $10,175.
4. 60,000 pounds or more, $13,560.
These revised dollar amounts under the mechanic's lien law shall apply to work commenced on or after January 1, 2002 for which a lien is claimed. These revised dollar amounts shall remain in effect until the first day of the first month following publication of new adjusted dollar amounts in the Wisconsin Administrative Register.
Contact Information:
Paul Dingee, Section Chief
Trade Practices Bureau
Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
2811 Agriculture Drive
P.O. Box 8911
Madison, WI 53708-8911
Telephone: (608) 224-492
Health & Family Services
Medicaid Reimbursement of Outpatient Hospital Services
Annual Rate Update
The State of Wisconsin reimburses hospitals for medical services provided to low-income persons under the authority of Title XIX of the Federal Social Security Act and ss.
49.43 to
49.47, Wisconsin Statutes. The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services administers this program, which is called Medicaid or Medical Assistance (MA). Federal statutes and regulations require state plans, one for outpatient services and one for inpatient services, which provide the methods and standards for paying for hospital outpatient and inpatient services including specific payment rates and methodologies.
The Department is proposing to update payment rates based on current methodologies and to reflect more recent hospital cost reports and/or other information relevant to hospital reimbursement. The final rates will apply to Medicaid payments for outpatient hospital visits in the state fiscal year beginning July 1, 2001.
Provisions of
2001 Wisconsin Act 16 direct the Department of Health and Family Services to submit a plan for 14-day passive review to the Wisconsin Legislature Joint Committee on Finance to distribute Medicaid and BadgerCare funds for outpatient hospital services provided through fee-for-service and through managed care. The Joint Committee on Finance has approved the Department's plan.
As required by federal statute and regulations, the proposed payment rates are restricted by the federal Medicare upper limit requirement and target a share of funding to hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of low-income patients.
Outpatient Hospital Services
Wisconsin Medicaid reimburses hospitals for outpatient services in accordance with all current and future applicable Federal and State laws and regulations.
Under the Wisconsin Medicaid Outpatient State Plan, outpatient hospital services are paid at an interim rate per visit with a retrospective final settlement for the fiscal year based on the hospital's audited cost report.
Provisions of
2001 Wisconsin Act 16 (the 2001-2003 state budget) authorized funding to increase payments to hospitals and managed care providers for acute care outpatient hospital services. The Department's plan provides a 12 percent increase to total statewide outpatient hospital payments and a 12% increase to the outpatient hospital portion of the monthly HMO (managed care) capitation payment. The Act included a hold harmless clause that establishes that if a hospital's outpatient rate per visit is lower than their outpatient rate per visit for the previous rate year, the hospital shall be paid at the previous rate year's outpatient rate per visit. Therefore, under this methodology, a hospital's rate will not be less than the same hospital's June 30, 2001 rate.
Interim Rate. The Wisconsin Medicaid outpatient rate per visit is calculated as follows:
The Wisconsin Medicaid costs and visits for the most recent audited cost report available to the department as of the 31st of May prior to the start of the rate year are used to calculate the Wisconsin Medicaid outpatient rate per visit.
For each hospital, using the audited cost report, the total outpatient costs are divided by the total outpatient visits to calculate the hospital's specific cost per visit.
The hospital specific cost per visit is inflated to the end of the rate year using the DRI inflation index.
The inflated hospital specific cost per visit is multiplied by the budget neutrality factor. The budget neutrality factor is established by dividing the total dollars budgeted for hospital outpatient services by the total estimated inflated hospital outpatient costs for the budget year. The total estimated inflated outpatient costs for the budget year is the sum of all of the individual hospitals' Hospital Specific Cost per Visit times the Medicaid outpatient visits for the previous calendar year. The result of this calculation is the hospital specific outpatient rate per visit for the rate year.
Final Settlement. Final settlement of outpatient reimbursement for the settlement year shall be a hospital's allowable audited outpatient costs in the final settlement year as determined according to applicable Medicare and Medicaid standards and principles of reimbursement. The resulting amount is limited by the lesser of the following amounts:
1. Customary outpatient charges in the final settlement year;
2. The sum of the rate per outpatient visit effective for the final settlement year multiplied by the number of Medicaid outpatient visits for the period; or
3. The sum of the interim clinical diagnostic laboratory reimbursement plus the lower of cost or charges for other services.
Major and Minor Border Status Hospitals. Outpatient hospital services provided at major and minor border status hospitals, and all other out-of-state hospitals, are reimbursed at 50% of allowable charges.
Hospitals Paid for Critical Access Hospital Outpatient Services
Critical Access Hospitals. Critical access hospitals (CAH) located in Wisconsin will be reimbursed according to a determination of the hospital's allowable audited costs for Medicaid outpatient services.
Interim Payment Rate Per Visit. Critical access hospitals may request an adjustment to be paid for allowable costs for outpatient services. Hospitals that receive such an adjustment under this section are not eligible to receive a rural hospital adjustment for outpatient services. The interim payment rate per visit will be determined based on a hospital's most recent audited cost report and additional information provided by the hospital to the Department to provide a reasonable estimate of the final settlement.
Final Settlement. The rate per visit limitation will not include any “Critical Access Hospital Interim Cost Payment Adjustment." The critical access hospital will be reimbursed any additional reimbursement that results from the following calculations.
Calculation of Reimbursable Critical Access Hospital Cost. The reimbursable critical access hospital cost of providing outpatient hospital services for Medicaid recipients will be determined as the lesser of:
1. Customary outpatient charges in the final settlement year; or
2. The sum of the interim clinical diagnostic laboratory reimbursement plus the lesser of the following for the other services (other than the above laboratory services):
(a) Total outpatient charges for other services in the final settlement year; or
(b) Total audited costs for other services in the final settlement year.
Limits on Final Settlement:
If the final settlement results in an amount due to the WMAP, this amount may be applied to any amount owed to the hospital under the critical access hospital inpatient reimbursement provisions.
If the reimbursable critical access hospital costs exceed the total final settlement amount, the Department will reimburse the hospital the amount by which costs exceed payments after such amount is reduced by the amount, if any, by which payments exceed costs under section 5900 of the Inpatient Hospital Plan relating to critical access hospital outpatient reimbursement.
If payments exceed costs, the Department will not recover excess payments from the hospital. However, excess payments may be applied to any amount owed to the hospital under the critical access hospital outpatient reimbursement provisions.
