Louisiana HB 204: EXCEPTIONAL PERSONS: Provides relative to the delivery of Medicaid-funded services for persons with disabilities (EG1 +$292,964 GF EX See Note)

Bill Text

HLS 21RS-580 ENGROSSED
2021 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 204
BY REPRESENTATIVE TURNER
Prefiled pursuant to Article III, Section 2(A)(4)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Louisiana.
EXCEPTIONAL PERSONS: Provides relative to the delivery of Medicaid-funded services
for persons with disabilities
1 AN ACT
2 To enact Part II-B of Chapter 5-E of Title 40 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, to
3 be comprised of R.S. 40:1250.31 through 1250.35, relative to the delivery of
4 Medicaid-funded services for persons with disabilities; to provide for definitions; to
5 provide for delivery of individual and family support services; to prohibit limitations
6 on direct service worker hours in the delivery of certain services; to provide with
7 respect to Medicaid payments for services of direct service workers; to provide for
8 delivery of certain Medicaid waiver services and long-term personal care services;
9 to authorize remote visitation of service recipients in certain programs with visitation
10 requirements; to require promulgation of administrative rules by the Louisiana
11 Department of Health; and to provide for related matters.
12 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
13 Section 1. Part II-B of Chapter 5-E of Title 40 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of
14 1950, comprised of R.S. 40:1250.31 through 1250.35, is hereby enacted to read as follows:
15 PART II-B. DELIVERY OF DISABILITY SERVICES
16 §1250.31. Definitions
17 As used in this Part, the following terms have the meaning ascribed to them
18 in this Section:
19 (1) "Department" means the Louisiana Department of Health.
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HB NO. 204
1 (2) "Direct service worker" means an unlicensed person who provides
2 personal care or other services and support to persons with disabilities to enhance
3 those persons' well-being and which involves face-to-face direct contact with the
4 person. Functions performed by a direct service worker may include but are not
5 limited to assistance and training in activities of daily living, personal care services,
6 and job-related supports.
7 (3) "Home- and community-based services" has the meaning ascribed in R.S.
8 40:2120.2.
9 (4) "Individual and family support services" means Medicaid-funded direct
10 support and assistance services authorized by the department for a service recipient
11 during that person's waking or sleeping hours when natural supports for the person
12 are unavailable.
13 (5) "Long-term personal care services" and "LT-PCS" mean services that
14 provide assistance with distinct tasks associated with the performance of a service
15 recipient's activities of daily living. Such assistance may be either the actual
16 performance of a personal care task for the service recipient or supervision and
17 prompting so the individual performs the task by himself.
18 (6) "Service recipient" means a recipient of any Medicaid-funded service for
19 persons with developmental, intellectual, or physical disabilities.
20 (7) "Synchronous interaction" means communication through interactive
21 technology that enables a service recipient and a service provider or other person at
22 two locations separated by distance to interact via two-way video and audio
23 transmissions simultaneously.
24 §1250.32. Individual and family support services; limitation on daily direct service
25 worker hours prohibited in certain circumstances
26 In unforeseen situations when the scheduled direct service worker becomes
27 unavailable or the service recipient is not comfortable with multiple people in his
28 home, the department shall not limit the number of individual and family support
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HB NO. 204
1 service hours that a direct service worker may work in a twenty-four-hour period as
2 long as the direct service worker is willing and able to work.
3 §1250.33. Waiver and LT-PCS programs delivering home- and community-based
4 services; payments to direct service workers; requirements
5 A.(1) No program which furnishes home- and community-based services
6 shall prohibit a family member from being a direct service worker for the service
7 recipient in order to qualify for payment through the waiver or LT-PCS program.
8 (2) A paid family caregiver who lives in the same setting as a service
9 recipient may provide no more than forty hours of Medicaid-funded services to the
10 recipient in a work week. After forty hours have been provided in a work week, the
11 caregiver may provide additional units of Medicaid-funded services in that work
12 week only in one or both of the following circumstances:
13 (a) When authorized by the service recipient's support coordinator.
14 (b) Due to an emergency.
15 (3) Service recipients and their direct service workers shall take all measures