Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Tuesday Quick Hits: Federal Policy Topics for this Week

U.S. Congress:

The Congress is in a week long Presidential Day recess. During the recess, Congressional leaders will be devising strategy to move priority bills, including the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget Resolution, in a bipartisan manner.

Medicaid:

The Arc and UCP will submit comments today on a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published by CMS which addresses the new Section 1915(j) state option for self-directed personal assistance services, also known as "cash and counseling". The new state option was added to the Medicaid program through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The purpose of the proposed regulations is to spell out the requirements that states must meet in offering the self-directed, or cash and counseling, option to eligible Medicaid beneficiaries. DPC staff notes that the NPRM is generally very positive, but that there are a few areas which would benefit from clarification or data collection. The NPRM can be viewed at: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/08-115.pdf

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