The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Thursday it will distribute more than $110 million to expand access to home- and community-based services (HCBS) through Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person (MFP) program.
The MFP demonstration began in 2007 and was funded by the Affordable Care Act through 2016. The goal of the program is to increase the use of home- and community-based services, while allowing people to have greater control over where they receive long-term care.
The program has provided states with over $4 billion for people who choose to transition out of institutions and back into their homes and communities. Funding for the program and providing care to seniors in their own homes has proven to be a priority for the Biden administration.
The $110 million will be divided up between more than 20 states and territories that are not currently participating in MFP. These funds will support initial planning and implementation to get the state or territory programs off the ground.
“Our health care system works best when it meets us where we are and helps us get to where we want to be,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a news release. “With this new funding opportunity, we’re expanding a program with a proven track record of helping seniors and people with disabilities transition safely from institutional care to their own homes and communities. Letting ‘money follow the person’ is key to those successes, and to the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to affordable, accessible, person-centered care.”
For states already participating in MFP, CMS also announced the agency is increasing the reimbursement rate for MFP “supplemental services.” These services will now be 100% federally funded with no state share.
As the U.S. population becomes older, lots of caregivers are going to be needed.
Right now, even without considering the onslaught of individuals entering their senior years in the next decade, providers are already struggling with staffing.
Leaders with the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) have always supported the Money Follows the Person program. Calvin McDaniel, director of government affairs with NAHC, said the association encourages all eligible states and territories to apply for the new funds.
“The announced funds will provide additional investment and opportunities for states to enhance their HCBS offerings,” McDaniel wrote in an email to Home Health Care News. “Continued investments in HCBS further rebalances spending on long-term services and supports in favor of the home. This investment is consistent with President Biden’s goals of improving access to care in the home.”
Other organizations echoed those sentiments.
Washington, D.C.-based LeadingAge is an association of more than 5,000 nonprofit aging services providers and organizations. The organization advocates on behalf of mission driven, nonprofit providers across the aging services continuum to ensure that beneficiaries have a choice in their site of care.
LeadingAge believes MFP is an important tool that allows those to make that choice for themselves, Mollie Gurian, vice president of home-based and HCBS policy for LeadingAge, said in an email to HHCN.
“The [$110 million] will help to encourage the expansion of the MFP program to states that have not currently elected to implement the program, thus expanding care choices for beneficiaries in those states – a real positive,” Gurian said.
Gurian also said CMS’ decision to increase federal support for states that have implemented the program is “critical” because MFP is not a permanent program.
“Congress has issued short-term extensions many times over the years,” Gurian said. “As a result of this uncertainty, more than 10 states have ended their Money Follows the Person programs. Build Back Better proposed to make this program permanent. We continue to advocate for another vehicle to ensure that MFP is permanent and its funding is stable, however, news today of the administration’s enhanced financial support for the program is good for both states and providers.”
Any state Medicaid agency that isn’t participating in the program has until May 31 to apply for the new funding.
Companies featured in this article:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), CMS, LeadingAge, NAHC
