Title 42

SECTION 441.302

441.302 State assurances.

§ 441.302 State assurances.

Unless the Medicaid agency provides the following satisfactory assurances to CMS, CMS will not grant a waiver under this subpart and may terminate a waiver already granted:

(a) Health and Welfare - Assurance that necessary safeguards have been taken to protect the health and welfare of the beneficiaries of the services. Those safeguards must include -

(1) Adequate standards for all types of providers that provide services under the waiver;

(2) Assurance that the standards of any State licensure or certification requirements are met for services or for individuals furnishing services that are provided under the waiver; and

(3) Assurance that all facilities covered by section 1616(e) of the Act, in which home and community-based services will be provided, are in compliance with applicable State standards that meet the requirements of 45 CFR part 1397 for board and care facilities.

(4) Assurance that the State is able to meet the unique service needs of the individuals when the State elects to serve more than one target group under a single waiver, as specified in § 441.301(b)(6).

(i) On an annual basis the State will include in the quality section of the CMS-372 form (or any successor form designated by CMS) data that indicates the State continues to serve multiple target groups in the single waiver and that a single target group is not being prioritized to the detriment of other groups.

(ii) [Reserved]

(5) Assurance that services are provided in home and community based settings, as specified in § 441.301(c)(4).

(b) Financial accountability - The agency will assure financial accountability for funds expended for home and community-based services, provide for an independent audit of its waiver program (except as CMS may otherwise specify for particular waivers), and it will maintain and make available to HHS, the Comptroller General, or other designees, appropriate financial records documenting the cost of services provided under the waiver, including reports of any independent audits conducted.

(1) Initial evaluation. An evaluation of the need for the level of care provided in a hospital, a NF, or an ICF/IID when there is a reasonable indication that a beneficiary might need the services in the near future (that is, a month or less) unless he or she receives home or community-based services. For purposes of this section, “evaluation” means a review of an individual beneficiary's condition to determine -

(i) If the beneficiary requires the level of care provided in a hospital as defined in § 440.10 of this subchapter, a NF as defined in section 1919(a) of the Act, or an ICF/IID as defined by § 440.150 of this subchapter; and

(ii) That the beneficiary, but for the provision of waiver services, would otherwise be institutionalized in such a facility.

(2) Periodic reevaluations. Reevaluations, at least annually, of each beneficiary receiving home or community-based services to determine if the beneficiary continues to need the level of care provided and would, but for the provision of waiver services, otherwise be institutionalized in one of the following institutions:

(i) A hospital;

(ii) A NF; or

(iii) An ICF/IID.

(d) Alternatives - Assurance that when a beneficiary is determined to be likely to require the level of care provided in a hospital, NF, or ICF/IID, the beneficiary or his or her legal representative will be -

(1) Informed of any feasible alternatives available under the waiver; and

(2) Given the choice of either institutional or home and community-based services.

(e) Average per capita expenditures. Assurance that the average per capita fiscal year expenditures under the waiver will not exceed 100 percent of the average per capita expenditures that would have been made in the fiscal year for the level of care provided in a hospital, NF, or ICF/IID under the State plan had the waiver not been granted.

(1) These expenditures must be reasonably estimated and documented by the agency.

(2) The estimate must be on an annual basis and must cover each year of the waiver period.

(f) Actual total expenditures. Assurance that the agency's actual total expenditures for home and community-based and other Medicaid services under the waiver and its claim for FFP in expenditures for the services provided to beneficiaries under the waiver will not, in any year of the waiver period, exceed 100 percent of the amount that would be incurred by the State's Medicaid program for these individuals, absent the waiver, in -

(1) A hospital;

(2) A NF; or

(3) An ICF/IID.

(g) Institutionalization absent waiver. Assurance that, absent the waiver, beneficiaries in the waiver would receive the appropriate type of Medicaid-funded institutional care (hospital, NF, or ICF/IID) that they require.

(h) Reporting. Assurance that annually, the agency will provide CMS with information on the waiver's impact. The information must be consistent with a data collection plan designed by CMS and must address the waiver's impact on -

(1) The type, amount, and cost of services provided under the State plan; and

(2) The health and welfare of beneficiaries.

(i) Habilitation services. Assurance that prevocational, educational, or supported employment services, or a combination of these services, if provided as habilitation services under the waiver, are -

(1) Not otherwise available to the individual through a local educational agency under section 602 (16) and (17) of the Education of the Handicapped Act (20 U.S.C. 1401 (16 and 17)) or as services under section 110 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 730); and

(2) Furnished as part of expanded habilitation services, if the State has requested and received CMS's approval under a waiver or an amendment to a waiver.

(j) Day treatment or partial hospitalization, psychosocial rehabilitation services, and clinic services for individuals with chronic mental illness. Assurance that FFP will not be claimed in expenditures for waiver services including, but not limited to, day treatment or partial hospitalization, psychosocial rehabilitation services, and clinic services provided as home and community-based services to individuals with chronic mental illnesses if these individuals, in the absence of a waiver, would be placed in an IMD and are -

(1) Age 22 to 64;

(2) Age 65 and older and the State has not included the optional Medicaid benefit cited in § 440.140; or

(3) Age 21 and under and the State has not included the optional Medicaid benefit cited in § 440.160.

[50 FR 10026, Mar. 13, 1985, as amended at 59 FR 37717, July 25, 1994; 65 FR 60107, Oct. 10, 2000; 79 FR 3031, Jan. 16, 2014]