News for a Friday Afternoon

November 19, 2021

First,  here is a Medicaid Memo that outlines the new, less stringent requirements for Face-to-Face Supervisory and Case Management Visits.   We will watch for the emergency regulations to come out!

Second, we have now had time to review the presentation to the Senate Finance Committee Retreat and gleaned a couple of important nuggets of information:

• The DD Waiver Rebase plan (still unseen) which was proposed by DMAS and based on the Burns & Associates study came in at a cost of $294M General Fund dollars (which would be a total cost of  $588M including the Federal share).  We believe that this proposal did not include much more than what would be required to meet the minimum wage increases.  That is a considerable amount of money, but it clearly shows that we are far behind where we should be to even begin to address the workforce issue.
• State savings (approximates $273M) must be invested in HCBS; after the $12.5% increase and the $1,000 hazard bonus for personal care, respite, and companion (specifics not yet released) the estimate is that there will be $137M left which must be spent.  Minimally this would cover a continuation of the 12.5% for all HCBS through June of 2023.