Chapter 1 fulfills a congressionally mandated study on Money Follows the Person (MFP), which has provided participating states with flexibility and enhanced funding to support more than 100,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in transitioning from institutional settings back into the community. Specifically, Congress asked the Commission to compare the MFP residence criteria, which requires participants to be transitioned into specific settings, to the more expansive set of settings that are permitted under the home- and community-based services (HCBS) settings rule. Congress directed MACPAC to identify settings that are available to MFP participants, and the settings that qualify for HCBS payment under the settings rule. This directive also asked the Commission to consider whether the MFP residence criteria should be harmonized with the HCBS settings rule. The Commission discussed varying views on aligning MFP residence criteria with the HCBS settings but concluded that there was not enough empirical data to support a recommendation to harmonize the MFP residence criteria with the HCBS settings rule. The chapter outlines the advantages and disadvantages of the current criteria as informed by stakeholder perspectives.
From: March 2022 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP