(Alexandria, VA, and Washington, DC) – The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) released the following statement in response to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission’s (MACPAC) discussion regarding home- and community-based services (HCBS) rate-setting held during today’s September MACPAC meeting.
The Alliance appreciates MACPAC’s interest in addressing issues related to worker pay in HCBS. These workers should receive higher wages and benefits as they are the backbone of the long-term care system in our country. They are dedicated professionals who provide essential services that promote the community integration, independence, and positive health and social outcomes of older adults and people with disabilities.
Unfortunately, we are concerned about the draft recommendation MACPAC discussed during today’s meeting. Rather than seeking to address the root-cause of low worker wages, MACPAC’s recommendation instead focuses on collecting additional information that would further describe the issue. This approach increases administrative burden on states and providers without actually proposing solutions to this problem.
MACPAC’s report acknowledges that rate studies and wage data are insufficient to address chronically underfunded Medicaid HCBS programs. To create meaningful change, state administrations and state legislators must be held accountable to fund services at levels that enable improved wages for workers. Sixty years of Medicaid program history have demonstrated that such wholesale changes to state actions are only achieved through new and strengthened Federal requirements. We urge MACPAC and its Commissioners to be bold and recommend structural changes to Federal Medicaid law and regulations that mandate payment policies ensuring access to HCBS through livable wages for direct care workers. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) should be given the authority to require states to:
- Perform comprehensive rate studies no less frequently than every five years that:
- Use generally accepted accounting practices to develop a payment methodology that assures continued adequacy of each component of the rate model; and
- Establish a rate model that includes individualized components for core provider cost drivers as well as a livable wage for workers.
- Submit a copy of the rate review report and recommendations with any waiver renewal or state plan amendment and make the report publicly available on their website; and
- Require states to justify any variance between the report recommendations and the actual established payment rates.
Further, CMS should be given the authority to disapprove rate methodologies that do not clearly account for all statutory and regulatory requirements of delivering services as well as demonstrating that the rates are sufficient to support a livable wage for workers.
Our members are committed to improving the lives and livelihoods of direct care workers because beneficiaries depend on them. We call on MACPAC to ensure that states and the federal government are equal partners in this critical endeavor.
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About the National Alliance for Care at Home
The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance) is the leading authority in transforming care in the home. As an inclusive thought leader, advocate, educator, and convener, we serve as the unifying voice for providers and recipients of home care, home health, hospice, palliative care, and Medicaid home and community-based services throughout all stages of life. Learn more at www.AllianceForCareAtHome.org.
Press Contact
communications@allianceforcareathome.org
Elyssa Katz | 571-281-0220
