“Rescue” Bill Passed by Senate

March 06, 2021

News from ANCOR!

Just a little bit ago, the Senate passed the American Rescue Plan Act (the COVID relief bill) with a provision for dedicated HCBS funding of $12.67 Billion, generated from an FMAP increase of 10% from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022. This is a dramatic increase from the House passed version with a 7.35% FMAP for HCBS.

The bill will need to be agreed to by the House, which we expect to happen quickly early this coming week. At this time, we do not foresee the House making any changes. Once passed by the House President Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law very quickly.

Note from VNPP –

There is a list of allowable ways to use the increase, and we do not yet have any guidance from either CMS or DMAS on what parameters they will set.  Keep in mind that by doing fairly simple math you can calculate what 10% FMAP increase will mean – roughly 5% increase on your HCBS revenue.