ADvancing States is excited to announce a second phase of short-term, intensive technical assistance to State Medicaid programs to facilitate and expedite state implementation of the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) HCBS Funding Initiative, the largest federal investment in HCBS systems capacity in 40 years.  In this second phase of technical assistance, the original supporters---The SCAN Foundation, the Milbank Memorial Fund, and The John A. Hartford Foundation---have been joined by an additional foundation—Arnold Ventures—in supporting this effort.  The second phase will begin on March 15, 2022 and end on June 13, 2022.

In this phase, the technical assistance effort will have two tracks. 

Track 1

The first track will be very similar to the structure of Phase 1.   Up to five states will be selected to develop a comprehensive Project Management Plan to lay out the sequence of discrete activities needed to achieve the objectives of some or all of the initiatives contained in the state’s HCBS Spending Plan.   The Project Management Plan will include every step that needs to be undertaken for the initiative to be completed, including the hiring of new staff, the submission of State Plan Amendments and/or waiver amendments to CMS, rate development and approvals, the procurement of outside vendors, IT system changes, regulatory processes, and so forth.   States may choose whether the Project Management Plan will address all of their HCBS Spending Plan initiatives or whether it will instead focus on a subset of HCBS Spending Plan initiatives.  

Track 2

In the second track, the project team will sponsor two Affinity Groups on topics of high policy and program interest to the ARPA HCBS initiative.   The two topics addressed in this phase will be selected by the state applicants from among six choices: 

• Career Paths for Direct Service Workers (DSWs)
• Implementing Wage Increases for DSWs
• Supports for Informal Caregivers
• Addressing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to Improve Quality of and Access to HCBS Services
• Use of Enabling Technology to Expand Access to HCBS
• Assessing the Success of ARPA HCBS Initiatives

Each state selected for track 2 will participate in six virtual bi-weekly meetings of 90 minutes each between March 23 and June 8, 2022, essentially every two weeks.  Participating states will be able to share – and learn about – promising practices, barriers and potential solutions related to the Affinity Group topic.

This work will be short-term and intense and we believe it will help create a solid foundation for the implementation and success of the ARPA initiatives. Please see the attached Project Announcement for more information and application instructions. Applications are due Monday, March 14th, at 11:59pm eastern time.

Click here to access the ARPA HCBS Technical Assistance announcement.

Please reach out to [email protected] with any questions.