Wisconsin Received Approval of EVV Good Faith Effort Exemption Request
On August 19, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) granted Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services (DHS) approval of its electronic visit verification (EVV) good faith effort exemption request.
With this approval, DHS will implement the EVV requirement for personal care services in calendar year 2020 without the risk of being fined for noncompliance. CMS did indicate that based on the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act) they do not have authority to extend the exemption past 2021.
CMS determined that the DHS request was in accordance with the exemption requirement outlined in the Cures Act, and therefore granted the request for extension.
CMS stated “specifically, your state has made a good faith effort to comply with EVV requirements by conducting industry and environmental scanning, selecting an EVV model based on a comprehensive review of existing vendor relationships, and modifying an existing contract to include EVV requirements. The state has also conducted several stakeholder engagement activities, including monthly provider agency stakeholder meetings, provider surveys, maintaining an EVV mailbox and website, and regularly convening provider, member, participant, and advocate forums.”
Implementation Timeline
DHS will implement the EVV requirement for personal care services in calendar year 2020. The implementation timeline is:
- Fall 2019: Forum to announce and discuss details of 2020 implementation date of soft launch
- Three months before soft launch: Training begins
- After launch: A period of data monitoring for provider outreach
After the implementation of EVV, future updates will be released as needed to clarify EVV direction.
New Resources
In addition, the following new resources can be found on the DHS EVV webpage:
Join the Email Subscription List
DHS also created an EVV email subscription list. All interested parties are encouraged to sign up for these alerts. Please share this EVV email subscription invitation with any other stakeholders who may be interested in EVV information.
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