Providers need funding to improve Medicaid HCBS access, quality, advocates say
By
Kimberly Bonvissuto
May 01, 2023
Senior living advocates are applauding steps announced by the federal government to ensure equitable access to home- and community-based services provided via the Medicaid program, but they say that funding...
State compliance status could affect assisted living providers that provide HCBS
By
Kimberly Bonvissuto
Dec 20, 2023
Assisted living operators that provide home- and community-based services to residents who are Medicaid beneficiaries could be affected as states continue to come into compliance with the provisions of...
CMS proposes ‘universal’ quality measures to ease provider burden, confusion
By
Lois A. Bowers
Feb 06, 2023
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services leaders are proposing the creation of a “universal foundation” of quality measures to reduce the reporting burden and confusion for providers and better align...
HCBS providers face more serious challenges ahead than institutional providers: report
By
Kimberly Bonvissuto
Sep 21, 2022
Expanding the availability and quality of long-term services and supports will continue to be a focus for policymakers as individual preferences and state requirements shift from institutional settings...
CMS issues guidance to states on how to use enhanced Medicaid HCBS funding from stimulus package
By
Liza Berger
May 14, 2021
States can only use enhanced Medicaid funds from the recently passed $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package to strengthen their home- and community-based services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...
Pilot program works to develop HCBS quality measures that reflect beneficiary preferences
By
Kimberly Bonvissuto
Feb 05, 2024
Decisions about funding, service provision and policy when it comes to Medicaid home- and community-based services may not always reflect the needs of the people it affects most, particularly older adults...
11 states ready to go live with Medicaid HCBS final rule as deadline approaches, CMS says
By
Kimberly Bonvissuto
Feb 22, 2023
Eleven states are planning to go live under the regulations of the home- and community-based settings final rule on March 18, according to Melissa Harris, deputy director for the CMS Disabled and Elderly...
Medicaid HCBS study shows ‘we still know very little’ about COVID in senior living
By
Kimberly Bonvissuto
Jan 17, 2023
A new study reporting higher mortality rates among Medicaid home- and community-based services recipients — including assisted living residents — during the pandemic compared with people not receiving...
Assisted living needs to be part of enhanced Medicaid HCBS program, industry advocates say
By
Kimberly Bonvissuto
Jan 30, 2023
A proposal calling for permanent enhanced federal funding to states to expand the Medicaid home- and community-based services program needs to go a step further to emphasize the benefits of assisted living,...
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...