One of the biggest influential pieces of President Biden’s American Jobs Plan is the elimination of the Medicaid HCBS waiting lists which has been a major issue within various states. In fact, one of the biggest benefits of this plan is the ability for The White House and Congress to carefully decide where to best spend that money. However, the implications of reducing these waiting lists puts a much greater burden on the HCBS Industry to meet that increased demand. Let’s discuss…..

To expand on this narrative, according to the informative Forbes article entitled “Biden Proposes The Biggest Medicaid Home-Based Long-Term Care Expansion In History, But….” Senior Contributor Howard Gleckman discusses the potential “growing pains” with this expansion. He states: “The problem, of course, is that given a finite amount of money, all these laudable goals conflict with one another. The more direct care workers are paid, the fewer hours of care they can deliver. The more services Medicaid provides to currently eligible beneficiaries, the fewer resources it has to expand the program to more people.”

Potential Impact on Hospital Care and Nursing Homes

With the proposed plan to reduce Medicaid waiting lists, one has to wonder if this will have any impact on local area hospitals and nursing homes. For example, would we see a “shift” in the healthcare industry where more individuals are changing  their career goals to meet this increased demand? Well, we reached out to our very own Cindy Eves, RN specialist with HCBS Provider, LLC for her professional perspective on this topic. According to Cindy, she believes that there will be a shift in the health care industry over time. In fact, she states “People in general rather be taken care of at home, not in a hospital setting or nursing home.  Times have changed, situations that could only be taken care of in a hospital setting can now be performed at home with the right support and services.”

How HCBS Provider is Ready for the Challenge

Over the past few years, especially during the Covid19 Pandemic, HCBS Provider, LLC has made signifiant investments to meet this demand. Here are just a few of them:

• Online technology to improve automation and human resources management.
• Revolutionizing healthcare CRM functionality and overall optimization of business flow to allow for increased client onboarding required by the state.
• Created various “remote-based” client activities including contests, art shows and movie nights.