Home & Community Based Services

A leader in advocating to expand care at home for low-income older adults, NSCLC continues its work on seeking alternatives to institutionalization.

• California Settlement Preserves Access to Adult Day Health Care
  On November 17, 2011, seven plaintiffs who represent a class of 35,000 low-income people with disabilities, including older adults, and the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit that challenged t...



• Webinar: How Recent CMS Guidance and Proposed Policies Increase HCBS Access
  Webinar 10/12/11. Congress acknowledged in the ACA that Medicaid's coverage for home and community-based services remains insufficient, and it authorized several new Medicaid programs and services in order to help shift Medicaid's spending balance from...



• Policy Issue Brief: CMS Notifies States of Limited MOE Flexibility in HCBS Waiver Programs
  (9/19/11) Advocates in states that may be contemplating cuts to HCBS waiver programs should be aware of the limits of the states' authority to make changes, both under the Affordable Care Act and other sources of federal law. Policy Issue Brief.  



• Revisiting the Olmstead Ruling: Keeping More Older Adults Out of Nursing Homes
  A September 2010 NSCLC report,  10-Plus Years After the Olmstead Ruling: Progress, Problems, and Opportunities, calls on Congress and the states to give older adults and people with disabilities to expand the use of home and community based services a...



• California”s Little Hoover Commission Testimony
  On May 27, 2010, NSCLC attorney Eric Carlson testified at California’s Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight committee that is reviewing the state’s system of care for seniors and individuals with disabilities. Eric outlined the ...



• Advocacy to Protect Medicaid-Funded Home Health Care
  Federal law requires that each state's Medicaid program provide home health care services.  These home health services allow low-income older Americans to stay at home longer. Under federal law, a state Medicaid program is not allowed to impose a â...



• The Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports Provisions in the Senate’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
  (1/28/10) The Senate’s health reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, H.R. 3590, contains several provisions that would expand Medicaid’s coverage for home and community-based services.  Specifically, the Senate proposes to: c...



• To be or not to be Homebound: The Limits of States’ Discretion in Medicaid’s Coverage for Home Health Services
  This issue brief provides an overview of the boundaries of a state’s home health service standard, including a discussion of the controversy in Missouri, in order to provide useful background for advocates trying to maximize the community-based optio...



• NSCLC Comments on HCBS Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
  NSCLC writes to comment on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relating to Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) waivers. Read comments (Aug. 20, 2009).



• NSCLC Requests Clarification on CMS Policy on Medicaid HCBS Waiver
  The District of Columbia operates a Medicaid home and community-based services waiver for individuals 65 years old or older or with disabilities. The waiver document it submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and for which ...