03/28/2020

Week of 3/22 Passed Legislation

Late during the week of 3/22/2020, Governor Mike DeWine and President Trump signed important legislation meant to combat COVID-19 (coronavirus) and stabilize the economy. 

Federal: The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act)

Late in the afternoon of 3/27/2020, President Trump signed the CARES Act into law. The two trillion-dollar stimulus bill is meant to help stabilize the economy and provide additional funding to individuals, public health services, hospitals and other health care providers, and businesses of all sizes. This is the third piece of massive legislation meant to combat COVID-19 (coronavirus). We anticipate seeing more bills in the coming weeks. 

The Columbus Dispatch published a helpful, very high-level summary of the CARES Act "Here’s what’s in the historic stimulus package for coronavirus"

Of note for HCBS waiver providers- the CARES Act changed federal Medicaid statute to allow for certain time DSPs spend providing supports to a waiver enrollee in an acute care hospital. Specific regulations will need to be developed for allowing this. States will need to apply to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to begin offering this as a billable service. This change was pushed heavily by our national partners at ANCOR and got strong support from Senator Rob Portman. 

State: House Bill 197

Also in the afternoon of 3/27/2020, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed House Bill 197 into law. The law makes certain necessary temporary statute changes to fully implement the various Executive Orders and Director of Health Director's Orders made over the past few weeks meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. The bill includes many provisions. You can read about them here.