LCO No. 1626 1 of 3
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5232
February Session, 2020
LCO No. 1626
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
AN ACT CONCERNING A MINIMUM BASE RATE FO R METHADONE
MAINTENANCE TREATMEN T.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 17b-280c of the 2020 supplement to the general 1
statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof 2
(Effective July 1, 2020): 3
(a) For purposes of this section: (1) "Methadone maintenance" means 4
a chemical maintenance program under which an addiction to one drug, 5
including, but not limited to, heroin, is treated with the drug methadone 6
in a weekly program that includes on and off-site methadone 7
administration, drug testing and counseling; and (2) "chemical 8
maintenance provider" means a provider certified and licensed by the 9
federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 10
and the state Department of Public Health who meets all federal and 11
state requirements, including, but not limited to, requirements specific 12
to the provision of chemical maintenance services. 13
(b) The Commissioner of Social Services shall amend the Medicaid 14
state plan to provide a minimum weekly reimbursement rate of eighty-15 Raised Bill No. 5232
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eight dollars and fifty-two cents to a chemical maintenance provider for 16
methadone maintenance treatment of a Medicaid beneficiary, provided 17
no such provider receiving a higher rate shall have such rate reduced to 18
the minimum as a result of the implementation of a new minimum 19
reimbursement rate. 20
[(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this section, on or after July 1, 21
2020, any reimbursement to a chemical maintenance provider for 22
methadone maintenance treatment shall be contingent upon meeting 23
certain performance measures as determined by the commissioner. Such 24
performance measures shall be developed in consultation with the 25
Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services and chemical 26
maintenance providers. Initial performance measures shall be 27
developed by September 30, 2019, including the means by which such 28
measures shall be evaluated. The initial evaluation period shall be based 29
on the claims data for the quarter ending March 31, 2020. The 30
performance measures and thresholds may be adjusted after the initial 31
evaluation period. Failure to meet department-identified standards on 32
performance measures shall result in a rate reduction of (1) up to five 33
per cent for the quarters ending September 30, 2020, and December 31, 34
2020, and (2) up to ten per cent beginning January 1, 2021. No provider 35
shall receive a rate decrease under this subsection that is more than a ten 36
per cent decrease annually.] 37
[(d)] (c) The Commissioner of Social Services, pursuant to section 17b-38
10, may implement policies and procedures to administer the provisions 39
of this section while in the process of adopting such policies and 40
procedures in regulation form, provided the commissioner [prints] 41
posts notice of the intent to adopt the regulations on the department's 42
Internet web site and the eRegulations System not later than twenty 43
days after the date of implementation. Such policies and procedures 44
shall be valid until the time final regulations are adopted. 45
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2020 17b-280c Raised Bill No. 5232
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Statement of Purpose:
To eliminate requirements that payment rates be tied to performance
measures.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]