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Lawmakers move to clear statutory language so Family Connects nurse home‑visiting can bill Medicaid
Summary
Sen. Jane Raybould’s LB792 would remove a clause in the Family Home Visitation Act that excludes single or infrequent evidence‑based home visits; Lincoln and Omaha health departments and First 5 Nebraska said the change would allow the evidence‑based Family Connects program to bill Medicaid and scale statewide.
Senator Jane Raybould asked the committee to remove a sentence from Nebraska’s Family Home Visitation Act that the Department of Health and Human Services interpreted as excluding ‘‘single or infrequent’’ evidence‑based home visiting models such as Family Connects from Medicaid billing.
Raybould said that LB22 (passed last year) intended to allow nurse‑based Family Connects to bill Medicaid, but DHHS flagged the existing statutory language as a barrier and submitted an alternative state plan amendment for a different postpartum model instead. LB792 would delete the exclusion so the Family Connects evidence‑based model — which typically provides one to three nurse home visits in the postpartum period — may be eligible for Medicaid reimbursement.
Kerry Kernen (Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department) said Lincoln’s Family Connects site, launched Sept. 2023, has completed nearly 2,000 postpartum home visits to date, schedules about 55% of eligible births and completes roughly 65% of visits; she said Medicaid covers a substantial share of program participants and the department stands ready to bill once DHHS approves program inclusion.
Kelly Mackling (Visiting Nurse Association, Douglas County) said her office provided 74 visits in its first months, reported unusually high acceptance and completion rates, and described cases where nurses connected families immediately to lactation consultants, food and diaper resources, developmental screening, and mental‑health referrals. She said VNA is pursuing Medicare provider numbers as a prerequisite to Medicaid enrollment.
Sarah Howard (First 5 Nebraska) said the disputed sentence was boilerplate borrowed from other states and argued it was not needed in Nebraska’s statute; she urged the committee to remove the language so Family Connects can be reimbursed and scaled to rural and urban communities across the state.
Next steps: sponsors characterized LB792 as a cleanup bill with no fiscal note and asked the committee to consider it for consent; proponents urged a prompt statutory fix so multiple local programs can pursue Medicaid enrollment.
