HB 94 HEALTH DATA COLLECTION & COST STUDY

Rep Kathleen M Cates

Actions: HPREF [2] HHHC/HAFC-HHHC [4] DP-HAFC

Scheduled: Not Scheduled

 House Bill 94 (HB 94) requires the Health Care Authority Department (HCAD) to collect and report data relating to the direct care worker workforce;. requires a biennial personal care services cost study; requires the HCAD to implement the cost study’s recommendations. HB 94 makes an appropriation.
 

 House Bill 94 (HB 94) relates to labor, particularly the direct care worker workforce.
SECTION 1 provides definitions as used in Sections 1 through 3 of this 2024 act.

SECTION 2 requires data collection and reporting from each personal care service provider agency (Agency).
A. By April 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, each Agency shall submit data to a third-party contractor engaged by the department regarding direct care workers. The data shall include information specified in this subsection.

B. The format for data reporting shall provide for sufficient confidentiality to protect both an individual direct care worker's identifying information and an individual personal care service provider agency's identity. 

C. The department shall review and analyze the data submitted by Agencies and submit a report by September 1, 2025, and thereafter, to the governor and the committees specified in this subsection. The report shall include the information specified in this subsection.

SECTION 3 direct the department to order a cost study and a determination of reimbursement rates.
The department shall contract for an independent biennial cost study to determine the cost of providing personal care services and recommending reimbursement rates for Agencies to cover those costs. The contract for the initial cost study shall be executed no later than December 31, 2024. 

Recommended reimbursement rates from the cost study shall include consideration of the following factors:
(1) the additional costs that would be incurred by Agencies if direct care workers employed by personal care service provider agencies were to be paid at least 150 percent of the state minimum wage;
(2) recent and projected changes in costs due to factors that include direct and indirect costs, inflation and changes in the applicable minimum wage; and 
(3) direct care worker vacancies that affect personal care service provider agency costs. 

B. The department's budget request for each fiscal year shall include sufficient funding to implement the most recent cost study's recommended reimbursement rates that would allow all direct care workers employed by Agencies to be paid at least 150 percent of the state minimum wage. 

C. If sufficient funds have been appropriated to implement the reimbursement rates recommended by the most recent cost study, the department shall adjust capitation payments to managed care organizations to allow the organizations to pay in-network Agencies the cost study's recommended reimbursement rates for personal care services, subject to approval by the federal centers for medicare and medicaid services. 

If the department determines that there is not a sufficient level of funding to support capitation payments that fully implement the personal care service reimbursement rates recommended by the most recent cost study, the department shall adjust the capitation rates as favorably as possible based on the level of funding available. 

SECTION 4 appropriates $400,000 from the General Fund to the HCAD for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2025 to contract for an independent cost study that determines the cost of providing personal care services and recommends reimbursement rates that are sufficient to cover the cost of providing personal care services. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2025 shall revert to the General Fund.