Home-delivered meals, in-home providers among flexibilities granted

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved the Mississippi Division of Medicaid’s Appendices K: Emergency Preparedness and Response in response to the COVID-19 outbreak for the following 1915(c) Home and Community-Based (HCBS) Waivers:  Assisted Living, Elderly & Disabled, Independent Living, Traumatic Brain Injury/Spinal Cord Injury and Intellectual Disabilities/Developmental Disabilities. For more information, find the documents linked on each waiver’s webpage.

In response to the coronavirus outbreak, the Mississippi Division of Medicaid (DOM) is increasing the availability of home-delivered meals and in-home providers for individuals enrolled in home and community based programs.

CMS has approved DOM’s requests, known as Appendix K: Emergency Preparedness and Response. These Appendix K requests allow states to amend the scope of services outlined in 1915(c) Home and Community Based Services waivers in response to an emergency.

DOM has been granted the authority to increase home-delivered meals services to participants on the Elderly and Disabled Waiver, as well as adding home delivered meals of up to two meals per day to participants of the Independent Living (IL), and Traumatic Brain Injury/Spinal Cord Injury (TBI/SCI) waivers.

At the same time, DOM was given the authority to increase the pool of available providers by:

• Waiving or delaying some of the current provider credentialing requirements
• Allowing operating agencies to contract with other agency providers to deliver these services

Published April 7, 2020

Updated April 17, 2020