Bill Text: NJ A4585 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires DHS to increase home and community-based services under Medicaid.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-13 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Aging and Human Services Committee [A4585 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A4585-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex and Hudson)
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
SYNOPSIS
Requires DHS to increase home and community-based services under Medicaid.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning Medicaid's home and community-based services and supplementing Title 30 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Commissioner of Human Services shall:
a. by 2027, aim to place 80 percent Medicaid participants, who are eligible to receive nursing home care, in home and community-based services, with 60 percent of the Medicaid funding for long-term services and supports to be allocated to home and community-based services;
b. by 2029, aim to allocate 70 percent of the Medicaid funding for long-term services and supports to home and community-based services;
c. establish a five-year strategic plan to rapidly expand home and community-based services by investing monies from available funds in a manner that decreases the number of individuals who are institutionalized in State developmental centers;
d. take measures to reduce institutional bias in State policy, including Medicaid eligibility changes, more timely authorizations for home and community-based services, and Medicaid coverage changes designed to promote home and community-based services;
e. develop an equitable plan across health care provider types with stakeholder input prior to expiration of enhanced federal funding contained in the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Pub.L. 117-2);
f. manage Medicaid payment methods for home and community-based services in a manner that ensures a living wage for caregivers, and periodically review the adequacy of rates in a transparent, verifiable manner, with predictable adjustments in wages to account for inflation;
g. in collaboration with the Department of Community Affairs, increase affordable supportive housing through various policies, including better coordination of programs at the State level, and promoting the integration of acute, primary, and long-term care through the expansion of integrated care models, such as the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly; and
h. prepare and submit to the Governor and, to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), an annual report containing information on the Department of Human Services's progress in implementing the provisions of this act.
2. The Commissioner of Human Services shall apply for such State plan amendments or waivers as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this act and to secure federal financial participation for State Medicaid expenditures under the federal Medicaid program.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Department of Human Services to increase home and community-based services under Medicaid.
Under the bill, the Commissioner of Human Services is required to: 1) by 2027, aim to place 80 percent Medicaid participants, who are eligible to receive nursing home care, in home and community-based services, with 60 percent of the Medicaid funding for long-term services and supports allocated to home and community-based services; 2) by 2029, aim to allocate 70 percent of the Medicaid funding for long-term services and supports to home and community-based services; 3) establish a five-year strategic plan to rapidly expand home and community-based services by investing monies from available funds in a manner that decreases the number of individuals who are institutionalized in State developmental centers; 4) take measures to reduce institutional bias in State policy, including Medicaid eligibility changes, more timely authorizations for home and community-based services, and Medicaid coverage changes designed to promote home and community-based services; 5) develop an equitable plan across health care provider types with stakeholder input prior to expiration of enhanced federal funding contained in the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021; 6) manage Medicaid payment methods for home and community-based services in a manner that ensures a living wage for caregivers, and periodically review the adequacy of rates in a transparent, verifiable manner, with predictable adjustments in wages to account for inflation; and 7) in collaboration with the Department of Community Affairs, increase affordable supportive housing through various policies, including better coordination of programs at the State level, and promoting the integration of acute, primary, and long-term care through the expansion of integrated care models, such as the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly.
