Bill would increase child welfare provider rates

The Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony March 8 on a bill that would increase child welfare provider rates in Nebraska.

LB510, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Danielle Conrad, would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to include annual cost of living adjustments when calculating child welfare reimbursement rates.

Conrad said the bill would ensure that providers have the necessary resources to continue delivering care to Nebraska’s most vulnerable children and families.

“Our state continues to grapple with ensuring we have the appropriate pieces in place to have a strong safety net for kids in need,” Conrad said. “Our child welfare providers are a big piece of that safety net and we need to make sure we’re doing all that we can so that they have the resources they need to recruit and retain top talent.”

Kelley Mast, director of family services at Compass, testified in support of LB510, saying current reimbursement rates have forced providers to deny cases that they lack adequate funding to support. Child welfare providers have been operating on a flat rate for nearly 10 years with no changes, he said, and that cannot continue.

“Over the last 10 or 12 years, your child welfare provider partners … have done a lot more with a lot less money,” Mast said. “But we don’t have any more expenses to cut.”

Also testifying in support of the bill was Tim Hruza of the Children and Families Coalition of Nebraska. With no standard review process for reimbursement rates, he said, providers are “caught playing catch-up.”

“Not just in terms of the amount of the rate paid, but in terms of how we’re staffing — how many people we have [and] how many kids we can provide services to,” Hruza said. “When you go 10 years without a cost-of-living adjustment … we fall behind really fast.”

Andrew Keck, deputy director of finance for the DHHS Division of Children and Family Services, testified in opposition to the proposal. He said the change would create “unpredictable” budgetary needs for the department.

“LB510 would require an [annual cost of living] increase in addition to the cost of services identified by the provider,” Keck said. “This could result in service rates that are higher than the actual cost of providing the service.”

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.