Committee hears plan to fund right-to-counsel for Medicaid residents in long-term care

The Senate Housing Committee heard testimony on a proposed program to provide publicly funded legal counsel for Medicaid beneficiaries facing discharge from certain long-term care settings.

Program counsel Beth Leonard of the Office of Civil Legal Aid (OCCLA) told the committee OCCLA had prepared a decision package requesting state funding to create a right-to-counsel program for Medicaid residents in assisted living facilities, adult family homes and enhanced services facilities. "We understand that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently determined that DSHS is out of compliance" with a federal home-and-community-based settings rule, Leonard said, and that CMS identified the right to counsel as a gap the state needs to address.

Why it matters: Committee members were told that filling the gap is necessary both to protect vulnerable residents from unlawful or unsafe discharges and to bring the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) back into compliance with federal Medicaid requirements, which, if not addressed, could trigger enforcement action that affects funding and operations.

Leonard said OCCLA’s proposal would make counsel available…