Medicaid Waivers

The Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group, Center for Medicaid and State Operations, CMS invites your comments on their draft Strategic Action Plan. The action plan is a is a public declaration of what is important, a statement of accountability, and provides direction to the future. Please review and send your comments to StrategicActionPlan@cms.hhs.gov

This document contains grant summaries and contact information for the Family to Family Health Care Information and Education Centers. CMS has awarded 19 Family to Family grants. HRSA has awarded 6 similar grants.

A bill to amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require States to disregard benefits paid under LTC insurance for purposes of determining Medicaid eligibility, to expand partnerships between States and insurers, to amend the IRS Code of 1986 to allow individuals a deduction for qualified LTC insurance premiums, the use of such insurance under cafeteria plans and flexible spending arrangements, and a credit to establish HCBS services as an optional Medicaid benefit.

CMS recently hosted a teleconference to provide an overview of the recently released draft 1915 (c) Medicaid Waiver Application. The presentation offered information on the development of the application including incorporation of comments from states; the protocol for use of the application in its draft form; design and development of the web based application including plans for Beta testing; information on CMS training events and the roll out plan which includes an evaluation component.

Over the last four years, the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured has been tracking the national development of the three main Medicaid HCBS programs that states can operate: (1) optional 1915(c) HCBS waivers, (2) the mandatory home health benefit, and (3) the optional state plan personal care services benefit. This brief presents expenditures and participant data on all three Medicaid HCBS programs and findings from the survey of policies on 1915(c) waivers.

A team of staff has been working to update and improve all Medicaid waiver data on the National Association of State Medicaid Directors (NASMD) website. The intent is to create a comprehensive, up-to-date resource that would be useful to a broad audience. The updated waivers website now contains summary information on all 1915(b), 1915(c), 1915(b/c) combination, 1115 and PACE waivers in clear, readable spreadsheets. The web site also provides textual information describing each type of waiver.

The following summary and white paper outline the accomplishments of Oregon's FY 2001 Real Choice Systems Change Grant. Their white paper held nine recommendations for the transformation of mental health services here in Oregon. The RCSC Consumer/Survivor Task force and other consumers/survivors have also asked that legislation be drafted that directs the Department of Human Services to develop a policy that promotes self-determination. SB 771 and HB3108 are the results of our efforts.

Medicaid is the major public payer of community services and supports for working age adults with serious mental illnesses. This handbook explains how existing Medicaid options and waivers are used by states to finance a broad range of community services and supports for adults with serious mental illnesses, and demonstrates what aspects of state-of-the art community services and supports for this population are funded by Medicaid.

In 2001, CMS worked with state agency associations to initiate the National Quality Inventory Project (NQIP) with a goal to obtain baseline information about state HCBS waiver program QA/I systems. Through this project an extensive survey of state QA/I systems was conducted. This report describes NQIP, summarizes and discusses the results of this first-time, nationwide systematic survey of state waiver program QA/I systems. The report also includes recommendations for CMS follow-up.

This memorandum presents state-by-state data on Medicaid long term care expenditures in Federal Fiscal Year 2004 (October 2003 through September 2004). The accompanying tables present data on Medicaid Expenditures for Long-Term Care services from 1992 to 2004. A new table this year shows the effect of supplemental nursing facility payments in some states on expenditure data. A separate file ranks states based on the proportion of LTC spending for community services.