Costing Sheet Frequently Asked Questions -
We hope that this information is
helpful. If you have additional questions after reviewing this file and the Entry Instruction sheets in the
workbook; please email Scott Lloyd, President of MTM Services via: Scott.Lloyd@mtmservices.org.
1. Filling out the worksheets –
a. Software – These sheets are set up in Microsoft Excel. Utilizing other software like
Microsoft Works for example will cause issues. As well, using very old versions of Excel
has often caused challenges with linkages in the workbook. We would suggest that you
use Microsoft Excel 2003 or above.
b. Entry Cells / Blue Cells - For each of the worksheets, you will fill out the blue cells only,
as the rest of the cells are password protected to preserve the math.
c.
Copy and Paste Only – These sheets are locked to protect the math formulas. This
works well with all things except for if teams cut and paste information within the sheet,
as that messes up the formulas and creates a Reference Error (#REF). If you will copy
and paste, or normally the best method is to copy and paste values is the best way to go.
d. Staff Time Hours vs. Client Time Hours – The Actual Billable/Direct Service Hours to
be entered on sheet FFS-1 should be the staff time hours, not the client time hours. For
Example – If a staff member runs a 2 hour group with 12 people, you would enter the 2 to
2.5 hours depending on the extra credit often given for groups, NOT the 24 hours of client
time.
e. Actual Time & Actual Salary – The staff count for everyone entered defaults to 1 as you
will want to enter Actual Hours delivered for the timeframe of the study, not what is
expected. As well, you will put in what was actually paid to the staff member for the
timeframe, therefore anyone who is part time will have numbers that are accurate
because the math ties to real time and real cost.
f.
Completion Order – You can fill them out in any order you like, however it is suggested
to complete the sheets in numeric order. For Example – Sheet FFS-2 gives the CPT
codes needed for sheet FFS-3 where you enter the hours delivered per staff broken out
by the hours delivered per code.
g. Formulas – You can see any of the formulas on any of the worksheets, just by clicking
on the cells despite them being locked.
2. Selecting your worksheets a. FFS vs. PD Sheets – There are two sets of worksheets in this workbook (Fee for Service
and Per Deim). Some teams will utilize both sets of sheets, while others will utilize only
one set. The determining factor of which worksheets you should utilize depends on your
funding source. Here is the information on the sheets:
i. The Fee-For-Service (FFS) - Are for programs that deliver direct services to
consumers and are then paid a fee for every direct service hour/unit they deliver.
(Example - Outpatient MH, SA Individual of Group services, CM Services.)
ii. Per Diem Per Day (PD) - Are for programs that deliver direct services to
consumers, but the payment for the care is not tied to the number of direct
service hours delivered. Instead the organization is paid a set fee based upon
the census of the organization/every participant that attendees services for a
fixed time frame. (Examples – Residential, DD, Day Treatment.)
3. Grant Fund Entry Options –
a. There are two ways to enter grant funds. The first is to enter grant funds that are
considered general revenue on sheet FFS-1 in Cells H4 through H9:
All funds entered here will be spread out evenly across all of the direct service providers
based upon which program that you assign them to, just like the Non-Direct Funds. If
you want/need to be more strategic with the application of your grant funds, then you
would:
b. Apply the grant funds to specific codes as part of the NET revenue you enter per code on
sheet FFS-4. This will show the impact of the Grant reimbursement only in the codes
that you want.
4. If you cannot Enter Data into your sheet –
A few teams have had an issue and emailed us that they were not able to delete the information
in or add information in the blue cells. To be clear, NONE of the blue entry cells are locked or in
a read only format. If that happens to you, then one of two things has happened:
1. Pasting Issue - You have pasted data into the blue cells from a locked worksheet, which
brings the locked designation with it. That is why you always use the “Paste Values”
option.
2. Temporary File Issue - More commonly, teams will open the worksheet directly from
their email and start to work on it without saving it to their hard drive. If you do this, then
the sheet will lock down in a read only mode because the file is located in a non-writable
temporary network folder. If this happens, please simply do a save-as function and save
the file to your hard drive. Teams have found that doing that will fix the issue
immediately.
5. Showing a Loss –
It is not uncommon to show a loss on these sheets and not on your financials based upon the
following:
a. Teams traditionally only include their at risk funding in these models, and do not include
private contracts, fund raising, etc., which often make up the difference in their losses tied
to their straight governmental funding.
b. You are putting in your actual net revenue deposited, not your full billing rates and/or AR.
c.
Finally, you are not entering in depreciation, write offs, etc.
Additional Miscellaneous Questions from Teams:
3. Q - Some of our supervisors also provide a small amount of clinical services. How do
they need to be handled of the FFS sheets? Do I need to estimate their salaries related
to direct services and put the remainder in non-direct costs? If so, do you have any
suggestions on how to estimate their direct cost?
A - Most teams have an allocation of time that is on their books already. If you don’t have
that, then you would just need to approximate based upon a formula tied to their actual
hours compared to the standard for your team. So for example, if you have someone
who delivers 200 hours, and your direct services standard is 1,000 hours, then you would
put them down as a .2 FTE and count 20% of their salary and fringe for direct service.
4.
Q - During the 6 month costing period, non-paid interns provided some of the billable
services to our consumers. How should I treat them since they were neither paid wages
nor a stipend? Should I use the hourly rate and benefits of their supervisor in order to
impute a value, or should I ignore them totally. If I ignore them, do I also remove the
related revenues?
A - For Interns, teams have simply applied their hours to whoever supervised them. This
way you can see the productivity, match up the revenues, and not have them mess up
your cost per staff member and/or service.
5. Q - We allocate the cost of transporting consumers from their homes to each of our sites
(where applicable). The state partially pays us for this service and those payments are
allocated to each site as revenue. I’m assuming that I should offset this revenue against
the expenses when calculating non-direct expenses.
A - I would enter the costs as they are, and then apply the revenue via the grant entry on
sheet FFS-1 next to the Non Direct cost entry. The grant revenue is spread across all of
the staff selected for that program.
6. Q - Regarding personnel costs, are Days of PTO the number of days earned/accrued or
the number of days actually taken/used?
A - The days actually taken/used is what we are looking for in this case.
Thanks for your hard work, we will be looking forward to your questions and/or completed worksheets to
review and offer feedback!