IFU4C - Statehouse Notes

Protecting Caregiver Choice ● Upholding Family Care Rights ● Ensuring Quality Care for All

Indiana Families United For Care

LEGISLATIVE COMMENTARY

Statehouse Notes (1/27-1/31)

February 2nd, 2025

Last week in Senate Health Committee, HB 486 was heard. This bill doesn’t have direct bearing on our loved ones, but it does alter the make-up of the Medicaid Advisory Committee and creates the Medicaid Beneficiary Advisory Commission. We are neutral on this bill but following it closely with our partners for opportunities for families to serve on these important committees. It passed out of committee 11-0 and should head to the full senate next.

In the House Public Health Committee, no bills specifically pertained to us, but for any public policy wonks out there, the testimony and resulting questions on HB 1004 concerning a hospital’s non-profit status really needed a bowl of popcorn to go with it.

Onto this coming week!

We are carefully watching HB 1592, which has to do with the waitlist. Jennifer is meeting with other lobbyists later today as it is being sold as potentially a way to do away with the waitlists, but it was not written clearly. It actually references the A&D waiver which no longer exists, but the way it is currently written indicates that it would create a waiver with no wait and retroactive benefits for people needing assisted living services only. While we very much support our elderly and older populations getting the timely help they need, we don’t support creating a unlevel playing field based on the TYPE of HCBS service a member needs. We strongly believe the state should fund all waiver slots and should not have a waiver waitlist. If they are truly interested in new waivers, then we have some suggestions for them of what may be appropriate for our kids.

The big news of the week is our bill is getting a hearing! HB 1689 is being heard by the House Public Health Committee. We thank Chairman Barrett for hearing the bill and all the work that Rep. Ed Clere has put into it. There is an amendment coming on the bill. From what we’ve seen, changes to LRI provided care will have to be presented to the DDRS Advisory Council for them to give input to FSSA. FSSA is in support of making what we believe to be some positive changes. In addition, they’re keeping the ombudsmen language (which the TBI AND H&W waivers don’t currently have), and they kept in our language concerning a Complex Care Assistant program. While this doesn’t do everything we want, what it does do is keep the bill alive, where hopefully as we work through the process it can improve.

We will put out a special mid-week statehouse notes this week on Wednesday, so please be watching for this. We apologize that it is taking a little while for us to communicate out. Jennifer’s son is currently inpatient at Cincinnati, so she is managing committee hearings, conference calls, etc. from her son’s hospital room. She WILL be driving up to give in-person testimony on Tuesday morning.

Statehouse Notes (1/20-1/24)

Greetings from the Statehouse! Here is a recap of last week, and a peak at the week ahead.

In the Senate Health Committee, SB 480 was heard, which would limit Prior Authorizations. The bill language specifically notes that it does NOT apply to services provided under the Pathways or Health and Wellness waivers. We are working to clarify if it would still apply to traditional Medicaid for waiver enrollees. If so, this would be beneficial to families as it would limit the number of PAs on procedures, DME, and on pharmaceuticals. It'd also do away with PAs for medications under $100 (i.e., an example was given of a family who was required to get a PA for Baclofen, which they were paying less than $20/90 day supply). This bill passed.

In the House Health Committee, we had one bill that was of interest. HB 1024 (Slager-R) passed 11-0. This bill continues reimbursement to pediatric hospitals in neighboring states at the same rate that Medicaid would pay Riley or PMCH. This includes Norton, Cincinnati Children’s, and at least one Chicago hospital. The original provision that allowed this payment was set to end this year, so this would just continue the status quo. Rep. Slager did mention that Cincinnati had over 13,000 outpatient visits and 1,300 inpatient visits last year from Hoosier children, so as a Cincinnati family, I was glad to see this bill pass out of committee.

Concerning legislation for this coming week, agendas were not posted for Health Committee by 10:00 pm on Sunday evening, and no health bills were slated to be heard in front of the full house or senate that we are watching on Monday.

One other item to note, BDS is accepting comments on proposed renewals of the CIH and FSW waivers. Comments are due by 2/21.

Statehouse Notes
January 19th, 2025

Greetings from your admin team! We plan on bringing you a weekly update to help you understand what happened last week and what’s on the docket for the upcoming week.

I’m Jennifer Dewitt and serve as Director of Government Relations. I will primarily write these updates with assistance from Lindsay Haake, who has graciously provided her services to IFUFC gratis in the political and public relations arenas.

This week, we had big news! Your admin team has been working for months to help get a bill introduced concerning our interests. This week, it happened! Rep. Ed Clere (R-New Albany) introduced HB 1689.

House Bill 1689 includes four main parts:

It provides a dedicated ombudsman for individuals with disabilities.
It defines extraordinary care and would add an additional tier of Structured Family Care with that in mind.
It allows LRIs to provide attendant care, albeit with a maximum cap on hours.
It calls for a study to examine whether a Complex Care Assistant (CCA) program is possible in Indiana.

What is a CCA program, you ask? It’s the program Massachusetts has for family members to provide skilled care, similar to the Parent CNA program in Colorado and the LHA program in Arizona. These programs allow caregivers expanded abilities while on the clock, such as medication administration, suctioning, g-tube feeds, cathing, etc.

It’s very important to remember that how a bill starts out is almost never how it ends up at the end of the session. Our bill will likely need to go through two committees on each side of the Statehouse, plus the full House and Senate, and a conference committee.

Also of importance, Reps. Behning, Porter, and Pryor are co-authors of this bill. We send big thank-you’s to Rep. Clere, Kim Dodson at The Arc of Indiana, Lindsay Haake, and Bill Scezpanski for all their work on bringing this bill to life.

Last week, the House Health Committee met but did not review any Medicaid-specific language we are following. The Senate heard SB 2, which is Senator Mishler’s Medicaid bill. This bill proposes changes such as requiring verification of certain items when enrolling or under review, moving reviews to a quarterly basis, limiting HIP to 36 months over the lifetime of individuals, and adding a work requirement. Testimony was taken and was unanimously against SB 2. No vote was taken.

This upcoming week, the House Public Health Committee will meet and will hear Rep. Barrett's (Chair of the Public Health Committee) Medicaid bill, HB 1586. This bill predominantly deals with issues of Medicaid funding, hospital assessment fees, and managed care assessment fees. We will continue to watch for any amendments.

The Senate Health and Provider Services Committee will be hearing SB 480, which concerns prior authorizations.

At this point, the admin team is endorsing two bills: HB 1689 and SB 30. SB 30 would add adult changing tables to all Indiana rest areas. We may provide testimony on other bills that impact preserving families as the session continues.