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Public Notice: Revisions to the Statewide Transition Plan: DC Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waiver

Monday, October 2, 2017

The Directors of the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF) and Department on Disability Services (DDS), pursuant to the authority set forth in an Act to enable the District of Columbia to receive federal financial assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act for a medical assistance program, and for other purposes, approved December 27, 1967 (81 Stat. 774; D.C. Official Code § 1-307.02) (2012 Repl. & 2013 Supp.)), and Section 6(6) of the Department of Health Care Finance Establishment Act of 2007, effective February 27, 2008 (D.C. Law 17-109; D.C. Official Code § 7-771.05(6) (2012 Repl.)) hereby give notice of their intent to submit revisions to the Statewide Transition Plan (STP) for the District of Columbia Medicaid program’s Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waivers to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for initial and final approval.

CMS regulations, effective March 17, 2014, and published in 79 Fed. Reg. 2948-3039 (Jan. 16, 2014), changed the definition of home and community-based services settings for HCBS Waiver services and required that DHCF and DDS develop and submit to CMS a transition plan identifying how the HCBS Waivers will be brought into compliance with the new outcome-oriented definition of HCBS settings.  DHCF and DDS submitted a STP to CMS on March 17, 2015.  That plan is available online on the DHCF website at: http://dhcf.dc.gov/release/announcement-submitted-cms-district-columbia-plan-comply-new-federal-home-and-community and the DDS website at: http://dds.dc.gov/publication/dc-statewide-transition-plan-3-17-2015.   

In August 2015, DC received a letter from CMS with comments on the March 2015 STP.  That letter is on-line at: http://dds.dc.gov/publication/cms-letter-dc-statewide-transition-plan-8-13-2015 and included items required in any subsequent update to the STP. A June 2016 update was submitted to CMS on July 8, 2016 for review ahead of approval in accordance with CMS guidelines for the STP approval process.   

A draft of the June 2016 update was initially noticed for public comment in the D.C. Register and DDS and DHCF websites on February 12, 2016.  The entire plan, including all attachments, was posted on the DHCF and DDS websites for public comment on February 19, 2016, with a thirty-day public comment period opening on February 20, 2016.  Public comments received on the February draft were included in the last update of the STP as an attachment, and are available to the public with the updated documents. The June 2016 STP update responded to the public comments received, as well as continuing guidance from CMS.  

In August and October 2016, DC received letters from CMS with comments on the June 2016 STP. The letters are posted on the DHCF and DDS websites. 

In response to the letters, and as agreed with CMS, the District submitted an update of the STP to CMS on April 28, 2017 after a public comment period. The April 2017 STP update included public comments received in writing and in two public forums during the thirty-day public comment period prior to the resubmission, as well as the District’s responses.  As agreed with CMS, the resubmission was intended for final approval.  The District received feedback from CMS on this update in an August 2017 email. After reviewing the feedback with CMS, DHCF and DDS plan to submit an updated version of the plan for initial and final approval by September 29, 2017. This version of the plan also includes a scheduled data update. 

The revised Statewide Transition Plan and the CMS feedback that the revisions respond to may be obtained no later than September 29, 2017 on the DHCF website at http://dhcf.dc.gov, the DDS website at http://dds.dc.gov, or upon request from Ieisha  Gray, Director, Long Term Care Administration, D.C. Department of Healthcare Finance, 441 4th St, NW, 10th Floor, Washington D.C. 20001.  

Copies of this notice will be published on the DHCF website at http://dhcf.dc.gov.

For further information, or to provide feedback on the latest version of the plan, contact Ieisha Gray, Director, Long Term Care Administration, D.C. Department of Health Care Finance, at (202) 442-5818, [email protected] or Erin Leveton, Program Manager, DDS State Office of Disability Administration, at (202) 730-1754, [email protected]