Committee advances package of Medicaid changes including one-time HCBS cost reporting and notice for payment methodology changes

Representative Frey presented House Bill 12-35, a broad Medicaid package including nonemergency medical-transport transparency, changes to procedure-payment rules, updates to federal-aligned language, and a one-time data collection reporting direct-care service costs versus administrative overhead for agencies serving more than 100 Medicaid members.

Sponsors said the measure is intended to improve transparency and inform future policymaking. "It changes the reporting from annual to just 1 time," Representative Frey told the committee, describing compromises that reduced the fiscal impact. The amendment L004 removed public-facing publication of provider-level financial data, raised the reporting threshold, and kept the collection as a one-time, aggregate data request.

Provider associations and home-care stakeholders expressed concerns that the proposed HCBS reporting would be administratively burdensome and might not produce comparable data across different delivery models; they warned that administrative costs include necessary quality and safety activities. The department and HCBS advocates said the data could help the legislature assess overhead and rate-setting questions but acknowledged definitional complexities.

Other amendments adopted included a six-month notice requirement before implementing multiple-procedure payment reductions and a federal-trigger repeal for language tied to changing federal rules. After debate and multiple amendments, the committee advanced HB 12-35 as amended to the Committee of the Whole by recorded vote (7–5 with one excused). Sponsors said they will continue stakeholder work to refine HCBS metrics if the bill proceeds.