ARPA

ADvancing States and the ARPA HCBS TA Collective are pleased to announce the release of an issue brief examining states’ efforts to understand the impact of their home and community-based (HCBS) projects implemented with unprecedented new Federal investment under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). With such a massive investment in our nation’s largest HCBS delivery systems, it is critically important to distill learnings about which types of the states’ investments resulted in desired outcomes and which did not. Armed with such information, our state and national leaders will be better informed to establish policies when making future investments related to Medicaid HCBS.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) included a 10% FMAP increase to Medicaid-funded HCBS. CMS requires states to submit semi-annual spending plan updates outlining changes to previously approved activities using ARPA HCBS funding. ADvancing States released an analysis of states’ initial spending plan submissions in September 2021, grouping activities into tables focusing on ten areas.