HLS 24RS-1003 ORIGINAL
2024 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 860
BY REPRESENTATIVE ECHOLS
MEDICAID: Provides relative to Medicaid reimbursement for home visiting services
provided after the birth of a child
1 AN ACT
2To enact R.S. 46:452, relative to Medicaid reimbursement for home visiting services
3 provided after the birth of a child; to require coverage for newborn home visiting in
4 the Louisiana Medicaid state plan; to establish a Medicaid reimbursement rate for
5 newborn home visiting services; to assign certain duties to the Louisiana Department
6 of Health; to define evidence-based home-visiting program; to require Medicaid
7 provider enrollment; to require certain approval from the Centers for Medicare and
8 Medicaid Services; and to provide for related matters.
9Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
10 Section 1. R.S. 46:452 is hereby enacted to read as follows:
11 ยง452. Medicaid reimbursement; home visiting services
12 A. The legislature hereby finds and affirms all of the following:
13 (1) Voluntary home visiting services are evidence-based deliveries of
14 services to families of newborns, or families expecting newborns, provided by
15 trained professionals in the home that begins from as early as the twenty-eighth week
16 of pregnancy to six weeks after the birth of a child and continuing anywhere from
17 two to five years after childbirth.
18 (2) Leading professional societies such as the American College of
19 Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine,
20 federal agencies like the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the
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HB NO. 860
1 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have recognized the well-established
2 benefits of prepartum and postpartum support services provided by voluntary home
3 visiting programs.
4 (3) Research has demonstrated that support from home visiting programs can
5 be associated with the reduction of unnecessary emergency department visits and
6 decreased use of public assistance programs such as Temporary Assistance for
7 Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Medicaid.
8 Support from such services has resulted in fewer children in social welfare, mental
9 health, and juvenile corrections systems. It has also positively impacted indicators
10 related to cognitive development and behavior, including higher intelligence
11 quotients, higher language scores, higher grade point averages, and higher graduation
12 rates.
13 (4) Louisiana currently has one of the highest maternal and infant mortality
14 rates in the United States. This state has a compelling interest and an obligation to
15 promote practices that improve maternal and infant health outcomes.
16 B. For the purposes of this Section, "evidence-based home-visiting program"
17 means a home visiting program model that meets the United States Department of
18 Health and Human Services criteria as an evidence-based early childhood home
19 visiting service delivery model, which is listed on the Home Visiting Evidence of
20 Effectiveness registry available on the United States Department of Health and
21 Human Services website.
22 C.(1) The Louisiana Department of Health, or the department, shall add
23 newborn home visiting as a covered service in the Louisiana Medicaid state plan.
24 The department shall establish a Medicaid reimbursement rate for newborn home
25 visiting services that is, at a minimum, ninety-five percent of the amount reimbursed
26 for targeted case management under Medicare for similar services and shall negotiate
27 with managed care organizations to reimburse at levels that reflect the additional
28 costs for reflective supervision, provider transportation, and administrative costs
29 relative to record keeping.
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HB NO. 860
1 (2) The department shall implement these rates no later than December 31,
2 2024.
3 D.(1) The provider of the home visiting service shall be enrolled as a
4 Medicaid provider and be part of a managed care organization network or a
5 fee-for-service provider in the Medicaid program to be reimbursed in accordance
6 with this Section.
7 (2) Implementation of the newborn home visiting covered service and
8 reimbursement rate provided for in this Section shall be subject to approval by the
9 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
10 (3) The Louisiana Department of Health shall promulgate rules as necessary
11 to implement the provisions of this Section.
12 E. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to require a decrease in any
13 reimbursement rate for home visiting services.
14 F. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to require the Medicaid
15 program to cover any specific clinical healthcare services.
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)]
HB 860 Original 2024 Regular Session Echols
Abstract: Requires the La. Dept. of Health (LDH) to add newborn home visiting as a
covered service in the Medicaid state plan.
Proposed law provides legislative findings.
Proposed law requires LDH to add newborn home visiting as a covered service in the
Louisiana Medicaid state plan.
Proposed law further requires LDH to establish a Medicaid reimbursement rate for newborn
home visiting services that is, at a minimum, 95% of the amount reimbursed for targeted
case management under Medicare for similar services.
Proposed law also requires LDH to negotiate with managed care organizations to reimburse
at certain levels and shall implement these rates no later than December 31, 2024.
Proposed law defines an "evidence-based home-visiting program" as a home visiting
program model that has met federal Health and Human Services (HHS) criteria as
evidence-based early childhood home visiting service delivery models as listed on the Home
Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness registry available on the HHS website.
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Proposed law requires the provider of the home visiting service to be enrolled as a Medicaid
provider and be part of a managed care organization network or a fee-for-service provider
in the Medicaid program in order to be reimbursed in accordance with proposed law.
Proposed law provides that implementation of the newborn home visiting covered service
and reimbursement rate shall be subject to approval by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services.
Proposed law further requires LDH to promulgate any rules as may be necessary to
implement the provisions of proposed law.
Provides that nothing in proposed law shall be construed to require a decrease in any
reimbursement rate for home visiting services or to require the Medicaid program to cover
any specific clinical healthcare services.
(Adds R.S. 46:452)
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.