Home Health & Hospice Week

CMS is making it easier for your state to provide home care and community living options.

A CMS final rule published in the Jan. 16 Federal Register "includes new flexibility provided by the Affordable Care Act that gives states additional options for expanding home and community-based services and to target services to specific populations," CMS says in a release. "It also amends the 1915(c) home and community-based services waiver program to add new person-centered planning requirements, allow states to combine multiple target populations in one waiver, and streamlines waiver administration."

Key: "A critical element of this benefit is that the eligibility standards direct the benefit to individuals who require less than an institutional level of care," says the National Council for Medi-caid Home Care — a National Association for Home Care & Hospice affiliate. "This is in stark contrast to waiver HCBS where it must be established that the individual qualifies based on a need for a nursing facility level of care."

CMS also has no "cost neutrality" requirement in this benefit, "meaning the state does not need to establish that the individual or aggregate cost of care is less than or equal to an institutional level of care," NCMHC notes.