Home Care & The Fair Labor Standards Act

Earlier this month, CMS published a CMCS information bulletin with the subject, Options for Medicaid Payments in the Implementation of the Fair Labor Standards Act Regulation Changes .  This is a re-release of the informational bulletin originally published in early July of 2014. Why? Because this informational bulletin is intended 

to assist states in understanding how they may ament their current 1915(c) waivers and state plan (1905(a), 1915(i), 1915(j), and 1915(k)) personal care services to implement Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) changes in a timely way, and in understanding Medicaid reimbursement options that will enable them to account for the cost of overtime and travel time during the workday that are likely compensable as the result of the DOL home care final rule.

CMS stands ready to help by providing "technical assistance to states seeking to adjust Medicaid reimbursement and other program policies to appropriately support FLSA compliance in home and community based LTSS. Additionally, DOL is continuing to provide extensive, individualized technical assistance." The focus of the bulletin is on home-care services that are use "self-directed service options" but  the bulletin also notes "that FLSA implications also exist for services furnished through agency-delivered models."