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Electronic Visit Verification Update: Requests from States for Good Faith Effort Exemptions
Section 12006(a) of the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) mandates that states implement electronic visit verification (EVV) for all Medicaid personal care services by January 1, 2020 and for all Medicaid home health care services by January 1, 2023, or otherwise be subject to incremental federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) reductions. The Cures Act includes a provision that allows states to delay implementation of EVV for up to one year if they can demonstrate they have made a good faith effort to comply and have encountered unavoidable delays. This notice provides states with information regarding the process to request a good faith effort exemption.
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CMS will accept requests for good faith effort exemptions for personal care services beginning July 1, 2019. CMS strongly encourages states to submit good faith effort exemption request by November 30, 2019.
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States are required to use the form titled “Good Faith Effort Request Form – Personal Care Services” when submitting their requests. Click here to access the form.
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Only the State Medicaid Agency Director or his/her designee can submit this form.
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Please send completed forms to the EVV mailbox at EVV@cms.hhs.gov with the subject line “[State Name] EVV Good Faith Effort Exemption Request.” The EVV mailbox will acknowledge receipt of the form. Only one form per state should be submitted.
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Within 30 days of receipt of the state’s request the CMS EVV mailbox will send a letter attached in an email and signed by the Director of the Division of Long-Term Services and Supports confirming whether the state’s request has been approved. If the state’s request is not approvable, CMS will inform the state of the reason(s) the request was not approved and will offer to schedule a conference call with the state. The state will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit its request.
Please be advised that the Cures Act provision on good faith effort exemptions does not provide CMS with authority to delay the FMAP reductions for more than one year. If you have any questions please email EVV@cms.hhs.gov or contact your CMS Regional Office.
Upcoming Trainings and State Webinars
Register: Data Merging and Integration in Medicaid
On Wednesday, June 12th from 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET, CMS’s Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP) will host a national webinar for state Medicaid agencies interested in learning about data merging and linkage of Medicaid data with other non-Medicare data sources.
During this webinar, presenters will provide an overview of approaches, strategies, and methods for merging Medicaid data with other data sets. A speaker from West Virginia will describe their experience with integrating mortality data to Medicaid eligibility data, including strategies used to achieve high match rates. The webinar’s second speaker, representing Washington State, will share real-life analytic use case examples and lessons learned in the state’s data integration efforts.
Register: Webinar on New Quality Measures Related to Substance Use Disorders in Medicaid
CMS’s Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP) is hosting a national webinar on Thursday, June 20, 2019 from 2:30 PM-4:00 PM ET to introduce three new quality measures related to substance and opioid use disorder treatment in Medicaid. The three measures are: (1) Use of Pharmacotherapy for Opioid Use Disorder (National Quality Forum #3400), (2) Continuity of Care After Medically Managed Withdrawal From Alcohol and/or Drugs (NQF #3312), and (3) Continuity of Care After Inpatient or Residential Treatment for Substance Use Disorder (NQF #3453).
In this webinar, participants will learn about the purpose of the measures, walk through the steps to calculate each measure, and discuss issues states should consider when implementing the measures. This webinar will include a question & answer session.
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