General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5445
February Session, 2020 LCO No. 2623
Referred to Committee on HUMAN SERVICES
Introduced by:
(HS)
AN ACT CONCERNING NONEMERGENCY MEDICAL
TRANSPORTATION FOR MEDICAID BENEFICIARIES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
1 Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) The Commissioner of
2 Social Services shall ensure that the state's medical assistance program
3 provides medically necessary and medically appropriate
4 nonemergency medical transportation upon the request of a program
5 beneficiary. In negotiating any contract with a transportation brokerage
6 vendor to provide nonemergency medical transportation, the
7 commissioner shall consider recommendations made in a 2020 audit of
8 the state's nonemergency medical transportation program by the state
9 Auditors of Public Accounts, including, but not limited to, requiring
10 that the contractor: (1) Immediately remove any driver deemed to pose
11 a risk to medical assistance beneficiaries, (2) have an adequate number
12 of wheelchair-accessible vehicles to meet demand, (3) accurately report
13 statistics regarding the percentage of nonemergency medical
14 transportation provided on time, and (4) promptly investigate and
15 resolve complaints.
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 Raised Bill No. 5445
16 (b) The Commissioner of Social Services shall evaluate the
17 administrative burdens placed on beneficiaries of the medical assistance
18 program and the health care providers of such beneficiaries. To the
19 extent permissible under federal law, the commissioner shall reduce the
20 number of medical necessity forms needed by such beneficiaries in
21 order to receive nonemergency medical transportation.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Statement of Purpose:
To require the Department of Social Services to consider
recommendations made by the state Auditors of Public Accounts in
negotiating any contract for nonemergency medical transportation and
reduce administrative burdens on beneficiaries who need such
transportation.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
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