The New Hampshire Senate and House approved a two-year budget this week that may result in more funding for the state’s Choices for Independence Program (CFI), a Medicaid waiver program that provides home- and community-based services to older adults and individuals with disabilities.
The budget requires the state’s Department of Health and Human Services to “expand and improve” access to HCBS in alignment with New Hampshire’s State Plan on Aging, the federal Older Americans Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and Medicaid Law.
CFI has been in jeopardy due to statewide caregiver and home health aide shortages. Additionally, the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute found that between 2011 and 2021, CFI has had a structural deficit of $153 million.
In an update Wednesday, the Care Paradox, a group of agencies that urged lawmakers to raise funding for CFI, said that the New Hampshire House of Representatives approved Medicaid rate increases that could “potentially improve funding for the CFI program.”
“This could allow in-home care providers to keep the doors open and continue providing services at current levels,” the update said. “After negotiations, the New Hampshire Senate restored funding for CFI to the level agreed upon in the House budget.”
Although the budget represents progress for providers, Gina Balkus, CEO of the Granite State Home Health and Hospice Association, pointed out that the problem has not been fully solved. Balkus told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse that the utilization rate within the CFI program is about 66%.
“People aren’t getting almost a third of the services they need,” she said. “New enrollees to the program are probably not getting any services because there are just no agencies that can take on new clients.”
