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Committee advances bill to tie adult foster home payments to client acuity
Summary
The House committee voted to advance House Bill 2560 with a due-pass recommendation and referral to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means after an agency witness described a new rate methodology that bases provider payments on the acuity of the individuals served.
The House Committee on Early Childhood and Human Services voted to advance House Bill 2,560 with a due-pass recommendation and refer the measure to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means during a March 20 work session.
Jane Ellen Weidance, deputy director for policy at the Office of Aging and People with Disabilities within the Oregon Department of Human Services, told the committee the bill is a priority for her agency and the governor’s office. “House Bill 2,560 is a…priority bill for the department and the governor's office,” she said, and described a new rate methodology intended to change how monthly payments are set to adult foster home providers.
Weidance said the revised methodology would base most provider rate increases on the “acuity of the individuals that they're serving,” and that individual rate amounts will change if a resident’s needs change or if a resident moves. She also said ODHS intends to work “very closely with the adult foster home industry, including the SEIU membership, to make sure that we are fully implementing this with transparency.”
Vice Chair Scharf moved the committee’s due-pass recommendation. Representative Knows, who said she had worked on the issue for several years, urged colleagues to support the proposal. The committee approved the motion without a roll call; the chair announced “the motion passes.”
Why it matters: the bill changes the mechanism that sets monthly payment rates to providers who care for adults, shifting the calculation to account for the clinical needs of the people in care. That approach aims to direct more funds to providers serving higher‑acuity clients, but will also mean a provider’s revenue can vary as residents’ needs change.
What happens next: the measure was referred to the Joint Committee on Ways and Means for fiscal review. The work session was closed and the committee opened a separate public hearing on House Bill 3,835.
No further committee action on HB 2,560 occurred at the March 20 meeting; the bill’s fiscal impacts and implementation details will be part of the Ways and Means review.
Ending: Committee materials and the staff summary for HB 2,560 were on OLIS; the department said it will continue stakeholder engagement as it refines implementation details and the new rate model.
