This bill amends the Rhode Island Family Home-Visiting Act to modify the Department of Health's annual reporting requirements regarding the family home-visiting program. It mandates that the department submit a report annually by March 1 that outlines the components of the state's family home-visiting system, including state and federal funding amounts and sources. This report must be shared with the General Assembly and made publicly available on the department's website.

The report will include the following information:
1. The number of families served by First Connections, as defined in the bill, in each calendar year, and the number of families enrolled in each evidence-based family home-visiting model at a common point-in-time for each of the last five years;
2. Demographic data on families served;
3. Duration of participation of families;
4. Cross-departmental coordination;
5. A projected three-year estimate of available federal MIECHV grant funds, the state match required to access the full federal MIECHV grant, and projected Medicaid fee-for-service billing and/or other funding strategies to sustain the programs and meet expansion targets;
6. The total annual federal MIECHV funding available, received, and spent by the state on direct home-visiting services by program model and the total spent on state administration for each of the last five years;
7. The total annual funding for each program model by source of funding, including Medicaid fee-for-service state and federal funding, MIECHV federal funding, MIECHV state match funding, and any other funding by source for each of the last five years for all models;
8. Implementation successes and challenges, including those related to funding, provider contracts, provider staffing and turnover, and family enrollment and retention;
9. An analysis of how other states have combined Medicaid and MIECHV home-visiting grants to support and sustain home-visiting programs, including an analysis of how other states use Medicaid's Targeted Case Management option.

Additionally, the bill requires the state to allocate the minimum amount necessary to draw down the maximum federal MIECHV dollars available for Rhode Island, which shall be used for funding home-visiting services. The act will take effect upon passage.

Statutes affected:
677: 23-13.7-2