ENROLLED
2022 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 40
BY REPRESENTATIVE TURNER
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to study the actual costs of
providing nursing services in the Medicaid-funded New Opportunities Waiver and
Residential Options Waiver programs and to residents of intermediate care facilities
for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities; to identify potential
means for fully funding nursing services for persons served by these programs and
facilities; and to report its findings to certain legislative committees.
WHEREAS, nurses are critical members of the care teams of persons with
intellectual and developmental disabilities who receive home- and community-based
services through the Medicaid waiver programs known as the New Opportunities Waiver
(NOW Waiver) and Residential Options Waiver (ROW Waiver); and
WHEREAS, nurses are indispensable to these care teams and to Medicaid waiver
service recipients because they provide needed nursing care to recipients and also deliver
mandatory training required for, and key support to, the direct support professionals who
provide the majority of the recipients' services; and
WHEREAS, intermediate care facilities for persons with intellectual and
developmental disabilities, known commonly as ICFs, are Medicaid-funded residential
facilities at which children and adults with special needs receive individualized health care
and habilitation services; and
WHEREAS, state licensing regulations for disability services providers, including
ICFs and NOW Waiver and ROW Waiver service providers, require that these providers
employ, contract with, or otherwise assure access to all necessary professional staff to meet
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the needs of each service recipient as identified and addressed in the recipient's
individualized service plan; and
WHEREAS, such professional staff may include, without limitation, licensed
practical nurses, registered nurses, and other health professionals; and
WHEREAS, the current reimbursement rates for nursing services for ICF residents
and in the NOW Waiver and ROW Waiver programs do not cover the full cost of providing
these required services.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to determine, through provider surveys
and any other appropriate methods, the actual costs of providing nursing services in the
NOW Waiver and ROW Waiver programs and to residents of intermediate care facilities for
persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department shall study all potential means
for increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates for nursing services paid to providers in the
NOW Waiver and ROW Waiver programs and to intermediate care facilities for persons
with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department shall submit its findings from
the efforts called for in this Resolution in the form of a report to the House Committee on
Appropriations, the Senate Committee on Finance, the House Committee on Health and
Welfare, the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, the Joint Medicaid Oversight
Committee, and the David R. Poynter Legislative Research Library no later than sixty days
prior to the convening of the 2023 Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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