Proposals

On September 18, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule to streamline enrollment in the Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs), helping to increase participation in the MSPs by an estimated 860,000 people. The MSPs, run by state Medicaid programs, cover Medicare premiums and, in most cases, cost-sharing for more than 10 million older adults and people with disabilities who have limited incomes. Only about half of eligible people are currently enrolled, in part due to cumbersome application and verification processes. CMS also estimates the final rule will save older adults and people with disabilities nearly 19 million hours in paperwork each year and reduce state administrative burden by over 2 million hours...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued the calendar year (CY) 2024 Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) Rate Update proposed rule. The proposed rule updates Medicare payment policies and rates for Home Health Agencies (HHAs) and other . Estimated Medicare payments to HHAs in CY 2024 would decrease in the aggregate by 2.2 percent, or $375 million compared to CY 2023, based on the proposed policies. The proposed rule also adds new quality reporting program measures, including a measure on the percent of patients/residents who are up to date with the COVID-19 vaccine, and proposes certain technical changes....

On July 13th, CMS published several proposed CY 2024 physician and hospital Medicare payment rules with comments due on September 11, 2023. The proposed rules are: CY 2024 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System Proposed Rule (CMS 1786-P). CMS proposes updating OPPS payment rates for hospitals that meet applicable quality reporting requirements by 2.8%....

On June 26th, CMS issued a proposed rule that proposes to update payment rates and policies and includes requests for information under the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System (PPS) for renal dialysis services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries on or after January 1, 2024. For calendar year 2024, CMS is proposing to increase the ESRD PPS base rate to $269.99, increasing total payments to ESRD facilities by approximately 1.6 percent totaling $6.4 billion. The CY 2024 ESRD PPS proposed rule also includes several proposals and requests for information related to ESRD PPS payment policies. This rule also proposes an update to the Acute Kidney Injury dialysis payment rate for renal dialysis services furnished by ESRD...

On Thursday, October 21, 2021 CMS launched a new “one-stop shop” for state Medicaid agencies and stakeholders on Medicaid.gov to advance transparency and innovation for home and community-based services. Through this new webpage, state Medicaid agencies and stakeholders can access information about states’ plans to enhance, expand, and strengthen home and community-based services across the country using new Medicaid funding made available by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP).

The National Council on Independent Living is seeking proposals for their Liberty, Independence, Freedom, and Equity themed 2021 conference. NCIL seeks workshops in the following tracks: Advocacy & Policy work, Independent Living 101, Core Services, Inclusion/Intersectional work, SILC. The submission deadline in March 28th 2021.

The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AG WG) has published a First Public Working Draft of W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 3.0. They are seeking input from evaluators, developers, designers, project managers, policy makers, people with disabilities, and others — particularly on the structure and the draft conformance model.

This study highlights the systematic barriers that keep nearly three million low-income older adults from accessing programs that help pay for health care. This issue brief shows that one-third of people eligible for Medicare Savings Programs are not currently enrolled. Barriers to enrollment include lack of awareness around the programs or an inability to complete the process. This issue brief also identifies potential policy solutions for improving access to these assistance programs.

This guide was created in conjunction with the Rural and Tribal Elder Justice Summit. The goal of the summit was to enhance the ability of elder justice professionals to respond to the unique needs of older adults residing in rural and tribal communities by sharing best practices and proposing innovative strategies to fill the identified gaps in service needs. This guide provides information and resources on the challenges rural and tribal communities face in responding to elder abuse.

The Community First Choice (CFC) HCBS plan of California has been approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CFC is authorized under 1915(k) of the social security act, and is often called a 1915(k) state plan option. This file contains the approved SPA pages of the California State Plan.