Bill Text: CT SB00271 | 2015 | General Assembly | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning Medicaid Reform To Promote Aging In Place.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-06-02 - Senate Recommitted to Human Services [SB00271 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2015-SB00271-Comm_Sub.html

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General Assembly		Committee Bill No. 271
January Session, 2015		LCO No. 4922
		*_____SB00271APP___043015____*
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)

AN ACT CONCERNING MEDICAID REFORM TO PROMOTE AGING IN PLACE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) On and after July 1, 2015, the Commissioner of Social Services shall establish a one-year pilot program to fund services under the Connecticut home-care program for the elderly for a period of up to ninety days for not more than fifty applicants who require a skilled level of nursing care and who are determined to be presumptively eligible for Medicaid coverage. The pilot program shall be established in a county where the per capita rate of nursing home institutionalization exceeds such average for counties state wide.

(b) The pilot program shall include, but not be limited to: (1) The development of a preliminary screening tool by the Department of Social Services to determine whether an applicant is functionally able to live at home or in a community setting and is likely to be financially eligible for Medicaid; (2) authorization by the commissioner for the access agency selected pursuant to section 17b-342 of the general statutes to screen such applicants and initiate home care services not later than five days after such screening; (3) a presumptive financial Medicaid eligibility determination for such applicants by the department not later than five days after such screening; and (4) a written agreement to be signed by such applicant attesting to the accuracy of financial and other information such applicant provides and acknowledging that (A) state-funded services shall be provided for not longer than ninety days from the date on which home care services are initiated under the program, and (B) such applicant shall complete a Medicaid application on the date such applicant is screened for functional ability to live at home or in a community setting or not later than five days after such screening. The department shall make a final determination as to Medicaid eligibility for presumptive eligibility applicants not later than ninety days after such applicant completes a Medicaid application.

(c) To the extent permissible under 42 CFR 435.915, the Commissioner of Social Services shall retroactively apply a final determination of Medicaid eligibility for presumptive Medicaid eligibility applicants.

(d) Not later than July 1, 2016, the commissioner shall submit a report on the program in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to human services. The report shall include, but not be limited to: (1) The number of applicants who were determined presumptively eligible for Medicaid who later were determined not to be eligible for Medicaid; (2) the cost to the state to provide care for such applicants; (3) the savings to the state in institutionalization costs for applicants who were determined to be eligible for Medicaid after a presumptive Medicaid eligibility determination; and (4) recommendations on expanding the program state wide to allow more persons to age in place, as described in section 17b-420a of the general statutes, and reduce state Medicaid expenditures on institutional care.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	from passage	New section

HS	Joint Favorable C/R	APP
APP	Joint Favorable