The Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules on June 26 approved two Agency of Human Services rule filings that consolidate Medicaid home‑and‑community‑based services regulations into Vermont’s health-care administrative rules (HCAR).

Connor O'Day, presenting for the Agency of Human Services, told the committee the filings include a new person‑centered planning rule and a critical incident management system rule. “This proposed rule for the person centered planning … aligns with federal regulations on person centered planning for delivering home and community based services under our CMS approved Global Commitment to Health waiver,” O'Day said. He described the person-centered plan as the service-authorizing document that specifies what services an individual will receive, by whom and when.

Why it matters: The person‑centered planning rule sets documentation requirements and outlines planning, service-plan and annual‑review requirements intended to support beneficiaries’ ability to remain in community settings. O'Day said the rule also “specifies the documentation needed to support any modification to qualities of a home and community based setting affecting individual rights.” The committee confirmed a requested wording change: the agency agreed to replace the word “comprise” with “include” in a lead-in section (8.103 0.3).

The critical incident management system rule implements federal requirements at 42 CFR 441.300 and related provisions obligating states to maintain an incident‑management system that identifies, triages, investigates, resolves and tracks critical incidents affecting HCBS beneficiaries. O'Day described the system as an electronic reporting mechanism for community providers to notify the state and for the state to investigate and mitigate risks.

Public process and comments: O'Day said both rules were shared with internal and external stakeholders before filing and that the department received comments from Vermont Care Partners on the person-centered planning rule but determined those comments were outside the rule’s scope and therefore did not change the text. He also said a public hearing in January drew no attendees.

Committee action: Committee members asked technical drafting questions and confirmed clarifications requested in exchanges with agency staff (for example, adding a comma in section 9.101 0.5 and the wording change in 8.103 0.3). The committee approved both rules by voice vote; Representative Ortey is recorded as moving the motion to approve the Critical Incident Management System rule.