Medicaid Home- & Community-Based Services: Evaluating COVID-19 Response Could Help CMS Prepare For Future Emergencies
Fast Facts
Medicaid home- and community-based services help beneficiaries with daily activities like bathing, dressing, and eating. To continue services during the pandemic and prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) allowed states to make temporary changes like providing more home-delivered meals or giving providers hazard pay.
CMS relied on states to monitor how these changes affected beneficiaries and make any mid-course corrections—but provided little guidance on doing so.
We recommended that CMS evaluate lessons learned from COVID-19 and develop plans for monitoring during future public health emergencies . . .

