Providers, state officials back H.13 rate-study bill as step toward predictable Medicaid payments

Montpelier — Providers of assisted living, home health, hospice and community behavioral health services told the Vermont Senate Health & Welfare Committee on April 2 that they support H.13, a bill to establish a recurring, data-driven process for reviewing Medicaid rates for residential and community long-term care services.

Felicia Cooper, director of managed care operations for the Department of Vermont Health Access, told the committee that state Medicaid staff "generally speaking, we're in support" of H.13 and that the agency already performs similar work. "I think we have capacity as it stands to do roughly 3 studies per year," Cooper said, noting that doing more studies or at a faster cadence would likely require additional resources.

The bill does not itself appropriate money for rate increases, witnesses said, but would create the information infrastructure for more predictable, transparent decisions on payment levels. "So age 13 really, we believe provides that, that system of predictability and information that's needed," said Molly Dugan of Cathedral Square, which operates affordable and assisted-living communities in northwest Vermont.

Why it…