(Salem, Ore.) – The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA) are seeking public comment on amendments to the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Statewide Transition Plan.

DHS and OHA amended the plan by outlining how Oregon will fully comply with current federal rules in attaining Medicaid reimbursement for HCBS services by March 17, 2022.

All of Oregon’s HCBS providers have gone through an assessment to determine their compliance. Of these facilities, 19 were identified as requiring federal heightened scrutiny as they are presumed to be institutional, based on criteria set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS will decide whether these facilities comply with the federal HCBS rules. The plan details how these settings can overcome the presumption that they are institutional. 

The amended plan has been posted online at: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/SENIORS-DISABILITIES/HCBS/Pages/Transition-Plan.aspx. In addition, paper copies are posted at local DHS offices and requests for individual paper copies can be made at any local DHS office or at the Human Services Building, 500 Summer Street N.E., Salem.

Background

 In 2014, CMS issued new rules to define HCBS settings to:

• Require HCBS settings be more home-like and less institutional.
• Require a better recognition and assurance of service recipients’ rights and freedoms. This includes the right to have visitors at a time they choose, have access to their own food when they wish, or lock the door to their room if they so choose.

The purpose of the HCBS rules is to ensure that HCBS recipients can seek employment and work in competitive and integrated settings, engage in community life, control personal resources, and receive services in the community, to the same degree as individuals who do not receive HCBS.

To be eligible for Oregon Medicaid payments, HCBS providers must comply with these rules. Oregon receives federal matching funds only if the service setting complies with these rules.

This is important to Oregon, and the residents who benefit from these services, because the federal government pays for about 70 percent of the cost of Medicaid HCBS through federal matching funds.

Initially, CMS gave states up to five years to comply, but recently extended the deadline to 2022 for states that request an extension.

Oregon is considered a national leader in creating home and community-based service options. The state wants to maintain the maximum level of independence for Oregonians who currently receive HCBS or may require them in the future.

Request for comments

Family members, advocates, stakeholder groups, providers, delivery system representatives, and members of the broader community are invited to review the amended HCBS Statewide Transition Plan and submit their comments for a submission of the plan to CMS. To make comments:

• Send an email to hcbs.oregon@ state.or.us;
• Send written comments to HCBS Transition Plan Comments, 500 Summer Street NE E-09, Salem, OR 97301.

OHA and DHS will consider all comments received. The final amended Statewide Transition Plan is due to CMS by Dec. 28, 2018.