Resolve, To Establish the Task Force To Study Opportunities for Improving Home and Community-based Services

Sec. 1. Task force established. Resolved: That, notwithstanding Joint Rule 353, the Task Force To Study Opportunities for Improving Home and Community-Based Services, referred to in this section as "the task force," is established to study how to make home and community-based services accessible to all residents of the State in need of these services.

Sec. 2. Membership; chairs. Resolved: That the task force consists of 13 members as follows:

1. Four members appointed by the President of the Senate, including at least one Legislator who is not a member of the same political party as the President of the Senate, as follows:

2. Four members appointed by the Speaker of the House, including at least one Legislator who is not a member of the same political party as the Speaker of the House, as follows:

3. Three members appointed by the Governor, as follows:

4. The Commissioner of Health and Human Services or the commissioner's designee; and

5. The Commissioner of Labor or the commissioner's designee.

Sec. 3. Appointments; convening of task force. Resolved: That all appointments must be made no later than 30 days following the effective date of this resolve. The appointing authorities shall notify the Executive Director of the Legislative Council once all appointments have been completed. Within 15 days after appointment of all members, the cochairs shall call and convene the first meeting of the task force, which must be no later than 30 days following the appointment of all members. Subsequent meetings are at the call of the cochairs or by decision of a majority of the members. The task force may meet 10 times.

Sec. 4. Duties. Resolved: That the study conducted by the task force must include, but is not limited to:

1. A review of the population in need of home and community-based services, the expected demand for services and approaches for determining eligibility;

2. A review of the potential scope of services needed, including the type and frequency of services, staff time and other resources required to provide those services and the availability and qualifications of the workers who could provide those services;

3. An examination of existing services provided through public sector and private sector systems, gaps in the systems resulting in unmet needs and the costs to a typical recipient expressed as a percentage of the income of typical recipients;

4. An analysis of the potential for innovative approaches to reimbursement for services and a review of promising proposals and successful models from other jurisdictions;

5. A discussion with existing public and private home and community-based services providers to analyze the potential for greater coordination and the options for expanding services to meet projected needs;

6. An analysis of the options for recruiting and retaining a workforce with the requisite skills and with sufficient capacity to satisfy the needs of the population to be served;

7. An analysis of how federal Medicaid matching funding may provide opportunities to achieve more sustainable delivery of home and community-based services in the future;

8. An analysis of how cost-sharing approaches can help maximize the scope and efficacy of home and community-based services delivery available in the State; and

9. An analysis of other policies and strategies that a majority of the task force members agree to include in this study.

Sec. 5. Staff assistance. Resolved: That the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Labor shall provide the task force with staff assistance and access to any nonconfidential aggregate information necessary for the task force to carry out its duties.

Sec. 6. Interim report; public input. Resolved: That the task force shall publish an interim report by October 15, 2019 and seek and obtain input on the interim report from a wide range of experts on home and community-based services policy, workers, families and agencies around the State who are knowledgeable about home and community-based services or affected by changes in cost or availability of home and community-based services.

Sec. 7. Final report. Resolved: That the task force shall submit a report containing its findings and recommendations, including any necessary implementing legislation, to the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services by December 15, 2019. The findings and recommendations submitted by the task force must relate to at least the following proposals:

1. The development of policies and strategies to increase the availability of home and community-based services to seniors and persons with disabilities who have difficulty with at least one activity of daily living;

2. The establishment of an approach to workforce development that ensures that sufficient personnel are trained and available to serve the home and community-based services needs in the State at adequate compensation levels and allows providers to establish stable and reliable employee work schedules;

3. An approach to cost-sharing that marshals scarce resources while ensuring that excessive cost is not a widespread obstacle to obtaining needed services; and

4. The development of a procedure whereby the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services will report annually to the joint standing committees of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters and labor matters on the subjects addressed by this task force.

The Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services may submit a bill related to this report to the Second Regular Session of the 129th Legislature.

Sec. 8. Outside funding. Resolved: That the task force may seek outside funding to support the work of the task force in accordance with the policy of the Legislative Council with regard to outside funding.

summary

This resolve establishes the Task Force To Study Opportunities for Improving Home and Community-based Services. The task force membership consists of Legislators, representatives of entities knowledgeable about or involved in home and community-based services, one provider of such services, one recipient of such services, the Commissioner of Health and Human Services, the Commissioner of Labor and one member of the public. The task force's duties include examination and review of the unmet need for home and community-based services, adequacy of the workforce providing home and community-based services, current systems for delivering home and community-based services and reimbursement arrangements in the home and community-based services sector. The task force is required to publish an interim report by October 15, 2019 and then seek input from stakeholders around the State. The task force must report its findings and recommendations, including any necessary implementing legislation, to the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services by December 15, 2019.