5609721 Health Care Finance, Department of - Notice of Emergency and Proposed Rulemaking - Governing Dental Services for Participants in the Home and Community-Based Services Waiver for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH CARE FINANCE

 

NOTICE OF EMERGENCY AND PROPOSED RULEMAKING

 

The Director of the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF), pursuant to the authority set forth in An Act to enable the District of Columbia to receive federal financial assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act for a medical assistance program, and for other purposes, approved December 27, 1967 (81 Stat. 774; D.C. Official Code § 1-307.02 (2012 Repl. & 2014 Supp.)) and Section 6(6) of the Department of Health Care Finance Establishment Act of 2007, effective February 27, 2008 (D.C. Law 17-109; D.C. Official Code § 7-771.05(6) (2012 Repl.)), hereby gives notice of the adoption, on an emergency basis, of an amendment to Section 1921, entitled “Dental Services,” of Chapter 19 (Home and Community-Based Services Waiver for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities) of Title 29 (Public Welfare) of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR).

 

These emergency and proposed rules establish standards governing reimbursement of dental services provided to participants in the Home and Community-Based Services Waiver for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD Waiver) and conditions of participation for providers. 

 

The ID/DD Waiver was approved by the Council of the District of Columbia (Council) and renewed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), for a five-year period beginning November 20, 2012. The corresponding amendment to the ID/DD Waiver was approved by the Council through the Medicaid Assistance Program Amendment Act of 2014, effective February 29, 2015 (D.C. Law 20-155; 61 DCR 9990 (October 3, 2014)). The amendment must also be approved by CMS, which will affect the effective date for the emergency rulemaking.

 

The current Notice of Final Rulemaking for 29 DCMR § 1921 (Dental Services) was published in the D.C. Register on March 28, 2014 – Part 1, at 61 DCR 002602. These rules amend the previously published final rules by changing the requirements for maintaining records. 

 

Emergency action is necessary for the immediate preservation of the health, safety, and welfare of waiver participants who are in need of dental services. The new requirements will enhance the quality of services. Therefore, in order to ensure that the residents’ health, safety, and welfare are not threatened by lack of access to dental services provided pursuant to the updated delivery guidelines, it is necessary that these rules be published on an emergency basis.

 

The emergency rulemaking was adopted on August 6, 2015, but these rules shall become effective for services rendered on or after September 1, 2015, if the corresponding amendment to the ID/DD Waiver has been approved by CMS with an effective date of September 1, 2015, or on the effective date established by CMS in its approval of the corresponding ID/DD Waiver amendment, whichever is later.  The emergency rules shall remain in effect for not longer than one hundred and twenty (120) days from the adoption date or until December 4, 2015, unless superseded by publication of a Notice of Final Rulemaking in the D.C. Register.  If approved, DHCF shall publish the effective date with the Notice of Final Rulemaking.  The Director of DHCF also gives notice of the intent to take final rulemaking action to adopt these proposed rules in not less than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice in the D.C. Register.

Chapter 19, HOME AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES WAIVER FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES, of Title 29 DCMR, PUBLIC WELFARE, is amended as follows:

Subsection 1921.7 of Section 1921, DENTAL SERVICES, is amended to read as follows:

 

1921.7             Each provider of Medicaid reimbursable dental services shall maintain records in accordance with professional standards, in a manner that protects a person’s confidentiality and meets the confidentiality requirements for Protected Health Information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Act and implementing regulations.

 

 

Comments on these emergency and proposed rules shall be submitted, in writing, to Claudia Schlosberg, J.D., Senior Deputy Director/State Medicaid Director, District of Columbia Department of Health Care Finance, 441 Fourth Street, N.W., Suite 900 South, Washington, D.C. 20001, by telephone on [phone], by email at [e-mail], or online at www.dcregs.dc.gov, within thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice in the D.C. Register.  Copies of the emergency and proposed rules may be obtained from the above address.