$25 million expansion adds 5 states and territories to Money Follows the Person program for HCBS
By
Lois A. Bowers
Aug 22, 2022
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, will award up to $5 million each to Illinois, Kansas and New Hampshire, as well as for American Samoa...
More than 6 years later, GAO still looking for CMS to act on assisted living recommendation
By
Lois A. Bowers
Mar 19, 2024
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services still has not taken action on a recommendation made by the US Government Accountability Office in a January 2018 report on assisted living, the GAO said in...
Proposed HCBS rule could diminish service access, hamper provider retention efforts, 11 senators tell...
By
Lois A. Bowers
Feb 20, 2024
A proposed federal rule that would require providers of home- and community-based services to spend at least 80% of the Medicaid payments they receive for personal care, homemaker and home health aide...
CMS-proposed HCBS rules elicit request for extension of comment period from 5 associations
By
Lois A. Bowers
May 22, 2023
The executive directors of five national organizations are asking the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to extend by at least 30 days the comment periods for two proposed rules related to access...
Provider groups decry ‘chronic underfunding’ as CMS introduces HCBS quality measures
By
Lois A. Bowers
Jul 22, 2022
The federal government’s introduction Thursday of quality measures for the home- and community-based services offered by assisted living and other providers comes in the midst of “longstanding, chronic...
AHCA/NCAL asks HHS to extend COVID-19 public health emergency past Jan. 11
By
Lois A. Bowers
Nov 03, 2022
The COVID-19 public health emergency should be extended past Jan. 11 “so that long-term and post-acute care providers can continue to offer the most efficient and effective care possible and so our nation’s...
HCBS settings final rule ‘not a good fit’ for assisted living, provider group says
By
Lois A. Bowers
Jun 23, 2023
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services home- and community-based services settings final rule is written so broadly that its requirements “run in opposition to person centered planning” for older...
COVID-19 public health emergency will not end in January: reports
By
Lois A. Bowers
Nov 14, 2022
The public health emergency due to COVID-19 will not end in January, according to published reports.
CMS’ spending requirement in HCBS rule ‘not the right approach,’ senior living advocates say
By
Lois A. Bowers
Jul 06, 2023
A proposal that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says is meant to “support and stabilize the direct care workforce” in home- and community-based settings, if it becomes final, ultimately...
Dollars spent on HCBS go further than those spent on nursing homes, study finds
By
Lois A. Bowers
Jun 29, 2023
Older adults are not “drawn out of the woodwork” to try to qualify for Medicaid benefits when a state expands home- and community-based services, according to the findings of a new study.