30:4D-17.28 Duties of commissioner relative to funding parity, coordination, assessment instrument.

6. The commissioner, in consultation with the Medicaid Long-Term Care Funding Advisory Council established pursuant to this act, shall:

a. Implement, by such time as the commissioner certifies to the Governor and the Legislature that funding parity has been achieved pursuant to subsection b. of section 5 of this act, a comprehensive data system to track long-term care expenditures and services and consumer profiles and preferences. The data system shall include, but not be limited to: the number of vacant nursing home beds annually and the number of nursing home residents transferred to home and community-based care pursuant to this act; annual long-term care expenditures for nursing home care and each of the home and community based long-term care options available to Medicaid recipients; and annual percentage changes in both long-term care expenditures for, and the number of Medicaid recipients utilizing, nursing home care and each of the home and community based long-term care options, respectively;

b. Commence the following no later than January 1, 2008:

(1) implement a system of Statewide long-term care service coordination and management designed to minimize administrative costs, improve access to services, and minimize obstacles to the delivery of long-term care services to people in need;

(2) identify home and community based long-term care service models that are determined by the commissioner to be efficient and cost-effective alternatives to nursing home care, and develop clear and concise performance standards for those services for which standards are not already available in a home and community-based services waiver;

(3) develop and implement a comprehensive consumer assessment instrument that is designed to facilitate an expedited process to authorize the provision of home and community-based care to a person through fast track eligibility prior to completion of a formal financial eligibility determination; and

(4) develop and implement a comprehensive quality assurance system with appropriate and regular assessments that is designed to ensure that all forms of long-term care available to consumers in this State are financially viable, cost-effective, and promote and sustain consumer independence; and

c. Seek to make information available to the general public on a Statewide basis, through print and electronic media, regarding the various forms of long-term care available in this State and the rights accorded to long-term care consumers by statute and regulation, as well as information about public and nonprofit agencies and organizations that provide informational and advocacy services to assist long-term care consumers and their families.

L.2006, c.23, s.6; amended 2012, c.17, s.376.