Home & Community Based Services

NSCLC advocates for more use of home and community-based services versus institutionalization, especially for low-income older adults needing long term services and supports.

Darling et al v. Douglas, Ninth District, California, is a class action suit that challenged the State’s planned elimination of Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) as a Medi-Cal benefit. Read more about the suit.

• CMS Releases Community First Choice Final Regulations; Seeks More Input on When Housing Is “Community-Base”
  As it continues implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released final regulations for the Community First Choice option (CFC). CFC provides an incentive for state Medicaid programs to of...



• Maryland Is Second State Approved for Medicaid’s Balancing Incentive Payments Program
  Maryland is the second state to receive federal approval under the Balancing Incentive Payments Program (BIPP) to shift state Medicaid spending towards community-based care.  Beginning this April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will pr...



• Local CA Adult Day Health Care Center Saved for Now
  At the end of March 2012, NSCLC, working with local legal services lawyers, achieved an important victory when the Kern County Board of Supervisors agreed to postpone for three months the closure of its adult day health care center. The center primaril...



• 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...