HLS 19RS-3545 ORIGINAL
2019 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 282
BY REPRESENTATIVES THOMAS, BILLIOT, TERRY BROWN, CARMODY,
FALCONER, MARINO, STEFANSKI, WHITE, AND WRIGHT
HEALTH CARE/FACILITIES: Requests the La. Department of Health to establish a four-
bed peer group for intermediate care facilities for people with developmental
disabilities
1 A RESOLUTION
2To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to establish a four-bed peer group
3 for intermediate care facilities for people with developmental disabilities for the
4 purpose of Medicaid reimbursement rate calculation for those facilities.
5 WHEREAS, intermediate care facilities for people with developmental disabilities,
6referred to hereafter as "ICF/DD", are facilities that provide services to individuals with
7developmental or intellectual disabilities who require twenty-four hours of care per day in
8community, group, or residential home settings; and
9 WHEREAS, ICF/DDs are licensed and regulated by the Louisiana Department of
10Health (LDH) in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 40:2180 et seq.; and
11 WHEREAS, under Louisiana's Medicaid state plan, ICF/DDs are grouped by number
12of beds in resident rooms in a system known as peer group classification which is utilized
13for purposes of calculating Medicaid reimbursement rates paid to the respective facilities;
14and
15 WHEREAS, Louisiana's current ICF/DD peer groups are one-to-eight beds, nine-to-
16fifteen beds, sixteen-to-thirty-two beds, and thirty-three or more beds; and
17 WHEREAS, Alexander Milne Developmental Services, known commonly as
18"Milne", is a nonprofit organization that has provided services to people with intellectual and
19developmental disabilities for over one hundred twenty years and was this state's first
20community-based provider of such services; and
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HR NO. 282
1 WHEREAS, after Hurricane Katrina irreparably damaged the New Orleans
2residential facility that Milne had operated in the Gentilly neighborhood since 1913, Milne
3and LDH agreed to a memorandum of understanding under which Milne would build and
4operate four-bed group homes and participate in the Louisiana Medicaid program; and
5 WHEREAS, while its residents remained in Laurel, Mississippi, where they
6evacuated after the 2005 hurricane and where Milne acquired a former healthcare facility for
7use as a temporary home, Milne worked to reestablish an ICF/DD in Louisiana and opened
8its current residential community outside of Covington in April of 2015; however, this
9community of four-bed group homes was placed in the one-to-eight-bed peer group for
10Medicaid reimbursement purposes, causing Milne to be reimbursed below its costs for
11providing services to its residents; and
12 WHEREAS, Milne has provided services to people with developmental and
13intellectual disabilities since 2015 at a significant financial loss; and
14 WHEREAS, the establishment of a four-bed ICF/DD peer group by LDH would help
15to ensure the viability of providers such as Milne, as well as any other provider similarly
16situated on the date of filing of this Resolution, which developed four-bed group homes
17pursuant to an agreement with the department, became licensed by the department to operate
18four-bed group homes, and now furnish high-quality institutional-level care in four-bed
19group home settings.
20 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
21Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health
22to establish a four-bed peer group for intermediate care facilities for people with
23developmental disabilities for the purpose of Medicaid reimbursement rate calculation for
24those facilities.
25 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department shall promulgate rules and
26regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act to provide for the ICF/DD
27peer group called for in this Resolution and shall file a state plan amendment with the
28Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to amend the Medicaid state plan as necessary
29to establish this peer group.
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HR NO. 282
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the rules of the department and Medicaid state
2plan shall ensure that four-bed ICF/DDs receive a fair allocation of the Medicaid share of
3facility-specific costs directly incurred by such facilities as a result of their compliance with
4the department's licensing of four-bed homes, and that payment of such costs be made
5retroactive to the earliest date allowed by law.
6 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department shall submit the Medicaid state
7plan amendment required by this Resolution to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
8Services no later than December 1, 2019.
9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
10secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 282 Original 2019 Regular Session Thomas
Urges and requests the La. Department of Health to establish a four-bed peer group for
intermediate care facilities for people with developmental disabilities for the purpose of
Medicaid reimbursement rate calculation for those facilities.
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