HB 2945 Summary

• Establishes the "Parents as Paid Caregivers" program under title 36, chapter 29, allowing parents to be paid for providing attendant care and habilitation services to their minor children with developmental disabilities, with restrictions on billing for services when the child is at school, in inpatient care, or for ordinary household tasks.

• Implements a 40-hour-per-week care services limit per child under the Parents as Paid Caregivers program beginning June 30, 2025, and requires adoption of a strengthened standardized assessment tool by October 1, 2025, to distinguish extraordinary care needs from ordinary parental duties.

• Requires legislative approval by statute for any new Medicaid Section 1115 waiver amendments that expand eligibility, add new service categories, or are projected to increase utilization by more than 10 percent; establishes monitoring and notification requirements to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

• Appropriates $109,200,300 from the prescription drug rebate fund and $403,000,000 from developmental disabilities Medicaid expenditure authority to the Department of Economic Security for fiscal year 2024-2025, plus $13,100,000 for cost effectiveness studies and $355,000 to the Auditor General for a special audit of the program.

• Requires the Auditor General to conduct a special audit of the Parents as Paid Caregivers program by August 1, 2026, comparing this state's program components to best practices in other states.