Illinois awaits approval to use FMAP funds for improving care for our Home Care Program participants

Illinois has developed a plan to use increased federal funding to improve support and services for children and youth with complex medical needs.

This plan incorporates valuable feedback from our participants, stakeholders and staff members at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC).

The extra funds are part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The act gives Illinois a temporary 10 percent increase in federal funding for home and community-based services (HCBS). This 10 percent increase is called the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage or FMAP.

Illinois must use the FMAP funds to enhance, expand or strengthen HCBS.

HCBS includes the waiver for children who are medically fragile and technology-dependent (MFTD). Therefore, the FMAP can provide extra funds to help support children and youth in the Home Care Program and their caregivers. FMAP improvements will also affect individuals who receive in-home, shift-based nursing as a non-waiver benefit.

In late May, DSCC asked our participant families, staff and community partners for input on how to use the FMAP funds. We also sought feedback on DSCC’s ideas for improving HCBS for Home Care participants.

We shared the input we received with the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS). We then worked with HFS to develop Illinois’ proposal for using the FMAP funds.

Ideas included in the proposal are:

1. Expand consumer direction (the ability for consumers to make choices about the services they receive) to allow unlicensed family caregivers to be paid caregivers. DSCC would then work to develop health and safety monitoring, assist with training and more. This change could provide caregiver relief to a large number of Home Care families.
   
2. Develop a nursing portal where open shifts could be posted by nursing agencies and families. This portal would be visible to home nurses and families. The intent is to try to improve nursing coverage for open shifts across the state.
   
3. Improve training and access to training to help improve the quality of nursing care in the home. This initiative would include developing training that builds on and complements existing training for caregivers in the home.
   
4. Increase the in-home respite nursing rates to match the rates from the 2019 nursing rate increase.
   
5. Increase the child-specific training rates to match the rates from the 2019 nursing rate increase.

HFS submitted Illinois’ proposal to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in July. We are now awaiting its approval and planning for the necessary next steps.

It is important to note that though the FMAP funding increase is temporary, we hope to make many of these changes permanent. We are discussing how to handle any relevant long-term costs with HFS.

We are excited about this opportunity to improve care for our Home Care Program participants.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their ideas and feedback with us.

We will continue to share updates on the status of Illinois’ proposal as they become available.

Federal funds are available to help enhance, expand and strengthen home and community-based supports for children with complex medical needs

We’re excited to announce a unique opportunity for you to share feedback to help Illinois improve its support and services for children and youth with complex medical needs.

In March, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under this act, Illinois can qualify for a temporary 10 percent increase in federal funding for home and community-based services (HCBS). This 10 percent increase is called the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage or FMAP.

Illinois must use the FMAP funds to enhance, expand or strengthen HCBS beyond what is available under the Medicaid program as of April 1, 2021.

HCBS includes the waiver for children who are medically fragile and technology-dependent (MFTD). Therefore, the FMAP can provide additional funds to help support children and youth in the Home Care Program and their caregivers.

Illinois must submit its ideas for how to use FMAP funds to the federal government by June 12.

We’ve put together a brief overview of the FMAP requirements. The video features Molly Hofmann, our Director of Care Coordination, Systems Development and Education, and Stephanie Leach, our Assistant Director of Operations for Home Care for our southern offices and our Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) Liaison.

Please watch their short presentation below –

We’d like to know what you think about the Division of Specialized Care for Children’s (DSCC) suggestions. What concerns do you have about them? What additional ideas do you have?

Please send your thoughts to dscc@uic.edu with the subject of “FMAP Feedback” by June 6, 2021.

For more information about the available FMAP funds, you can review the public notice on the HFS website. The notice includes HFS’s suggested recommendations for improving HCBS services.

HFS also has a form to collect feedback from families, caregivers and other stakeholders. You can download the HFS feedback form and email it to HFS.HCBSWaiver@illinois.gov no later than June 4, 2021.

A note that DSCC’s and HFS’s ideas for improvement are simply suggestions at this time.