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Health committee deadlocks over whether to lock assisted‑living Medicaid cap into statute
Summary
A contentious session in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee divided providers, DHS and legislators over whether to codify a 1,200 point‑in‑time minimum for Medicaid‑funded assisted‑living slots and how to treat an unduplicated waiver cap of 1,725.
Representative Gray asked the committee to make statute match an agreement reached between the Department of Human Services and assisted‑living providers, saying the language would provide budget certainty by fixing a minimum number of state‑funded assisted‑living slots.
Representatives of providers told the committee the change could hurt rural facilities. Mike Shepherd, an assisted‑living provider who has participated in program negotiations since 2001, said putting a low point‑in‑time number into law "will eventually seriously harm the assisted living program in Arkansas," arguing the program needs flexibility to accommodate changing census and capital‑cost obligations. Shepherd said past rate changes and a subsequent…
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