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HHS Committee supports three MHCA bills

On Tuesday April 6th, The Legislature's Health & Human Services Committee met in work session to discuss several bills that are important to long term care.  These included legislation that MHCA helped to draft. 

LD 250, An Act to Assist Nursing Homes in the Management of Facility Beds.  This bill includes provisions to allow for bed banking, the elimination of caps on medical director salaries, and the allowance of cloud based software as a fixed cost.  The Committee voted unanimously to support the bill.

LD 684, Resolve, to Amend MaineCare Reimbursement Provisions Governing Supplemental Payments to Nursing Homes with High MaineCare Use.  This bill allows more facilities that are at least 80% MaineCare to qualify for an additional payment.  The Committee voted unanimously to support the bill.

LD 784, An Act to Amend the Law Governing Approval Authority over and Oversight of the Certified Nursing Assistant Education Program.  This bill removes the requirement that LTC facilities must certify that adult education cannot provide a CNA class within 30 day, before being allowed to offer their own class.  The Committee voted unanimously to support the bill.

Because these were all unanimous votes, the bills will be taken up by the full House and Senate without debate.  In some cases, final approval will still require the Appropriations Committee to allocate funding before the bills can become law.  MHCA will follow this process closely.         

Staff Contact: rerb@mehca.org