Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Access Rule Town Hall Announcement
In April 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced the Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services Rule, known as the Access Rule. This new rule is designed to make it easier for people to access HCBS and to improve the quality of these services. We are committed to the goals of the Access Rule and beginning to plan for how to meet these new requirements. Over the coming months, we will ask for your feedback about how we implement the requirements.
The Department invites you to a town hall session to discuss the new CMS Access Rule requirements. This town hall is the first of several opportunities for you to give input that will help us create a plan to follow the new rule.
Please register through the link below that matches your relationship with Maine’s Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS) programs. Please register in advance to receive the town hall meeting link. If you are unable to attend the town halls, you can view recordings on the OADS Medicaid Access webpage and provide written feedback via email. Instructions for how to submit written feedback will be posted to the webpage after the town hall sessions.
Please note, the rule includes elements about other medical services that will be addressed separately by the Office of MaineCare Services (OMS). More information from OMS will be shared at a later date. These sessions will focus specifically on HCBS programs offered by OADS.
Target Audience: Providers, Advocacy Organizations, Advisory Groups, etc. – Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and/or Autism Population
When: Tuesday, January 7, 2025, from 12-1:30PM
Registration Link: https://mainestate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkd-GqrzwjHta_xzg0KJfzUE0FJmAA5bEy_____________________________________________________________________
Target Audience: Providers, Advocacy Organizations, Advisory Groups, etc. – Older Adults and Adults with Physical Disabilities Population
When: Thursday, January 9, 2025, from 12-1:30PM
Registration Link: https://mainestate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEsf-CtqDgqEt2QywnRv8lD_rqWbUae5nIV
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Target Audience: Individuals and Families – Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and/or Autism
When: Monday, January 13, 2025, from 4-5:30PM
Registration Link: https://mainestate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAuf-irpjIiH9L-7YNwkCUxVJP721fI1sjy
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Target Audience: Individuals and Families – Older Adults and Adults with Physical Disabilities
When: Tuesday, January 14, 2025, from 4-5:30PM
Registration Link: https://mainestate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsc-iorT0oHdAlI9tyh-xkx-_5qLdNjL33