From the desk of Katy Dodd, Principal and VP of Business Development
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Money Follows the Person (MFP) Demonstration Program for HCBS Expands to 5 States and Territories
Recently, CMS announced that Illinois, Kansas and New Hampshire, as well as American Samoa and Puerto Rico, will be the latest U.S. states and territories to join Medicaid’s Money Follows the Person demonstration program (MFP). Each location will receive up to $5 million, marking the first time MFP grants have been made available to territories.
The funding is a necessary step in providing states and territories the opportunity to establish or enhance Medicaid Home and Community-based Services (HCBS) quality improvement programs while creating meaningful partnerships, assessing community needs and systems in place to better understand how HCBS supports local residents, and much more.
For coverage on the expansion of the Money Follows the Person program, click here>>
MFP Program Goals
- Increase the use of HCBS and reduce the use of institutionally-based services
- Eliminate barriers in state law, state Medicaid plans, and state budgets that restrict the use of Medicaid funds to enable Medicaid-eligible individuals to receive support for appropriate and necessary long-term services and supports in the settings of their choice
- Strengthen the ability of Medicaid programs to provide HCBS to people who choose to transition out of institutions
- Put procedures in place to provide quality assurance and improve HCBS
For more information and to access the full media release from CMS, click here >>
Download a recent issue brief released on July 20, 2022, Money Follows the Person: Updated State Transitions as of December 31, 2020, authored by Victoria Peebles and Johanna Dolle.
This important report details that from the time transitions began in 2008 to the end of 2020, states had transitioned 107,128 people to community living through MFP. From 2017 to 2020, adults with physical disabilities and older adults represented three-quarters of all transitions. These efforts have improved the quality of life for so many people to live as safely and independently as possible in their home.
LifewiseCHM applauds CMS and its work of supporting states and territories to establish or enhance Medicaid HCBS quality improvement programs and the overall increase of HCBS support. Contact us to learn more.