HB 657 Summary

• Removes the prohibition on changing Medicaid provider reimbursement rates without legislative amendment; establishes a 30-day legislative review process where House and Senate Medicaid Committee chairmen can object to proposed rate changes but cannot veto them.

• Increases reimbursement rates for restorative dental services by 5% annually for fiscal years 2023, 2024, and 2025.

• Establishes a Medicaid Supplemental Payment Program for emergency ambulance transportation providers with specific formulas for calculating ambulance service access payments on a quarterly basis.

• Authorizes reimbursement for services provided by licensed birthing centers and border city university-affiliated pediatric teaching hospitals to eligible Medicaid beneficiaries under age 21.

• Expands home health service authorization to allow nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and clinical nurse specialists to prescribe, order, certify, and recertify home health services and conduct required initial face-to-face visits, effective retroactively to May 8, 2020.