Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a request for information (RFI) to solicit public feedback on its efforts to track the performance of Medicaid-funded home and community-based services (HCBS). HCBS provide opportunities for Medicaid beneficiaries to receive services in their own home or community rather than institutions or other isolated settings. These programs serve a variety of targeted populations groups, such as people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, and/or mental illnesses. This is part of the Agency’s efforts to strengthen HCBS quality measurement, reporting, and improvement activities and to ensure that vulnerable Medicaid beneficiaries receive high quality and cost-effective services.
These efforts to identify a meaningful and standardized set of HCBS measures of quality are a part of CMS’ “Meaningful Measures” strategic initiative created to improve outcomes for beneficiaries, their families, and providers while also reducing burden on clinicians and providers. It is no secret that millions of Americans need long-term services and supports (LTSS). In fiscal year (FY) 1986, HCBS expenditures accounted for less than 10 percent of the approximately $13 billion in federal and state expenditures for all Medicaid LTSS, including nursing home expenditures. By FY 2016, HCBS expenditures accounted for 57 percent of HCBS expenditures of the $167 billion spent nationally on Medicaid LTSS. As the number of older adults and people with disabilities grows, Medicaid will need to play an even larger role in ensuring the availability of these services over the next several decades. Identifying the best quality measures enables CMS to use this information for other Medicaid initiatives achieving greater transparency and accountability in the Medicaid program.
To view the RFI, visit: https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/quality-of-care/downloads/rfi-hcbs-recommended-measure-set.pdf
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