Home- & Community-Based Services (HCBS)

People experiencing homelessness often have complex health care and social service needs which present significant care challenges to hospitals, such as longer lengths of stays, higher readmission rates, and complicated chronic illnesses.

State Medicaid programs have the option to cover supported employment services, but use of these services by the Medicaid population has not been widely studied.

This report outlines a feasibility study focused on obtaining identifiers for self-directed Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) users within Medicaid claims data. Financial Management Services (FMS) entities assist individuals in managing the financial aspects of self-directed care, including payroll and billing.

States may use Appendix K to modify their existing Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) 1915(c) waiver programs during emergency situations. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, states used Appendix K to make temporary changes to access and eligibility, payment, services, and other aspects of their waiver programs.

Prior research from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) show older adults receiving federal housing assistance face disproportionately high rates of chronic conditions and health care utilization.

On April 25, 2024, HHS and DoL released recommendations, in the form of an Issue Brief, to improve data infrastructure on the workforce delivering home and community-based services (HCBS) in response to President Biden’s

Home and community-based services (HCBS) are a range of medical and non-medical services provided in the home and community that support individuals with functional limitations, enabling them to reside in the community rather than in institutional settings.

During the COVID-19 public health emergency, states used Appendix K, a standalone appendix available during emergency situations, to modify their existing Medicaid HCBS 1915(c) waiver programs. Using Appendix K, states can make to make temporary changes to access and eligibility, payment, services, and other aspects of their waiver programs.

This issue brief provides updates on state Medicaid policies regarding delivery of telehealth services by provider types and modalities, as of January 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic substantially accelerated interest in and utilization of telehealth across all payers including Medicaid.

The National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA) requires “the inclusion of ethnic and racial populations at higher risk for Alzheimer's or least likely to receive care, in clinical, research, and service efforts with the purpose of decreasing health disparities in Alzheimer's”.1 In order to meet this requirement, in 2020 the Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services recommended t