Medicaid Waivers

Justice in Aging published a new brief centered on the dual eligible population and programmatic recommendations to support equity. The recommendations are measures advocates and health plans can use to ensure equity is at the center of the response to COVID-19. Examples of recommendations in the brief include: Expanding/targeting outreach for COVID-19 and routine care based on information plans have about their members; Prioritizing HCBS and support for caregivers; Enhancing data collection

This brief draws from interviews with states operating new and long-standing MLTSS programs to identify six major trends in the refinement of MLTSS and underlying LTSS delivery systems nationally. The states examined in this brief are strengthening their Medicaid MLTSS programs to serve more LTSS beneficiaries and facilitate the development of integrated care programs that reduce service fragmentation for Medicare-Medicaid enrollees, particularly through Medicare Advantage D-SNPs

During the Friday September 25, 2020 MACPAC meeting, MACPAC presented on the Management of HCBS Waiver Waiting Lists. The talk included background information on Medicaid and HCBS Waivers, data on HCBS Waiver waiting lists, and strategies for reducing or eliminating waiting lists. The slides from this presentation are included here.

This compendium includes select information on waiver capacity and waiting list management. The compendium highlights over 200 approved Section 1915(c) and Section 1115 waivers across all 50 states and DC. As an accompaniment to this compendium, MACPAC has also released an issue brief. This issue brief includes a description of the waiver analysis conducted in the compendium. It also features information from stakeholder interviews.

This issue brief discusses state policy trends using data from KFF’s 18th annual 50-state survey. It discusses policy areas such as implementation of electronic visit verification and value based payment models. The brief highlights key findings across the topics areas of HCBS program flexibility, MLTSS, and response to federal regulations

This brief includes the latest (FY 2018) Medicaid HCBS enrollment and spending data from KFF’s 18th annual 50-state survey. It contains data about per-enrollee spending on HCBS by target population and HCBS waiver waiting lists. This issue brief also includes tables with detailed state-level data. One key finding analyzed here is that most HCBS enrollees receive services provided at the state option.

The Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Conference is hosted annually by ADvancing States (formerly known as NASUAD). This event highlights best practices from across the country in home and community-based services. The conference includes federal, state, and local policymakers as well as those who administer, manage, and deliver waiver and other HCBS programs. This link contains all of the slide presentations from the 2019 HCBS Conference.

Section 1332 State Innovation Waivers can help improve the health insurance market and lower premiums for consumers, including older adults, but can also cause harm if used the wrong way. This guide provides background on State Innovation Waivers and highlights five key steps that states should take to understand and evaluate the impact of these waivers on older adults.

The Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services released a report that profiled the 10 states with the greatest change in Long-Term Services and Support (LTSS) system balancing. The report highlights characteristics of the 10 states and compares their change in LTSS system balancing with other states and provides a national overview on LTSS system balancing. State profiles consist of characteristics and strategies states utilized in their progress towards rebalancing their LTSS systems.

CMS has released a notice with information about the process for states to apply for a “good faith effort” (GFE) exemption, which provides up to one year of extra time to come into compliance with Electronic Visit Verification.