{"id":39983,"date":"2026-02-13T11:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=39983"},"modified":"2026-02-13T11:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T17:54:20","slug":"changes-sought-to-medicaid-long-term-care-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=39983","title":{"rendered":"Changes sought to Medicaid long-term care program"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Appropriations Committee heard testimony Feb. 9 on a measure that seeks to provide greater funding flexibility for Medicaid beneficiaries who choose to transition from institutional long-term care settings to alternative home and community-based settings.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Brian Hardin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB1143, sponsored by Sen. Brian Hardin of Gering, would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to submit an application to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, no later than Dec. 31, to establish a Money Follows the Person program to assist qualified individuals in transitioning from an institutional setting to a community setting while continuing to receive long-term care.<\/p>\n

In addition, if the department uses an amount that differs from the identified appropriation in calculating nursing facility rates for a prospective rate period, the bill would require that information to be included in the department\u2019s annual report to the Legislature on nursing facility rate calculations.<\/p>\n

Hardin said the bill would align with DHHS\u2019s priority of \u201cperson-centered care\u201d for individuals who need long-term services and would provide responsible management of Medicaid resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is that most people don\u2019t really want to be institutionalized,\u201d he said. \u201cThey would prefer to age in place, to age at home if they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drew Gonshorowski, director of the DHHS Division of Medicaid and Long-Term Care, testified in favor of the proposal. He said the department currently lacks discretion to direct funds appropriated for long-term care to settings other than nursing homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cDHHS supports a [Money Follows the Person] program, as it focuses on ensuring that patients who require long-term care are served in their preferred setting \u2014 whether at home or in a long-term care facility \u2014 so long as it is clinically appropriate,\u201d Gonshorowski said.<\/p>\n

Opposition focused on the portion of the bill that would allow the department to use an amount different from the identified legislative appropriation for calculating nursing home provider rates.<\/p>\n

Heath Boddy, president of Vetter Senior Living in Omaha, opposed the bill. He said specific language was put in state law requiring rates to be set using the dollar amount earmarked by the Legislature for that purpose after approximately $30 million was appropriated for provider rates but used by DHHS for other priorities over a number of years.<\/p>\n

Jay Colburn spoke against LB1143 on behalf of the Nebraska Health Care Association, Nebraska Hospital Association and York General Health Care Services. Also focusing on the proposed change to provider rate calculations, he said the bill would \u201cshroud what would be a revenue grab from skilled nursing providers under the guise of a Money Follows the Person [program].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore 2019 \u2026 the department would utilize funds intended for nursing home rates to fill other gaps in programs they preferred,\u201d Colburn said. \u201cWhat the Unicameral appropriated was not directed to where it was intended and the dollars were lost in the formulas used by the [department].\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on the proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Appropriations Committee heard testimony Feb. 9 on a measure that seeks to provide greater funding flexibility for Medicaid beneficiaries who choose to transition from institutional long-term care settings to alternative home and community-based settings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[280],"class_list":["post-39983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-appropriations","tag-sen-brian-hardin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/UpdateBlogPhoto-3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39983"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39985,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39983\/revisions\/39985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}