Action | Electronic Visit Verification |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 3/21/2020 |
02/18/20 Charlie Carr blog:
"In the waning days of the 2016 legislative year, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act that represented a significant investment in improving access and availability of mental health services nationally. Included in this legislation was a last minute addition titled Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) in Section 12006. It's largely believed that this addition that required a "pay for" was driven by the EVV vendor lobby; principally Sandata corporation. Section 12006 requires states that have personal care services programs to additionally report the type of service performed; individual receiving the service; date of the service; location of service delivery; individual providing the services, and time the service begins and ends. This requirement is, at the very least, a burden on every Medicaid agency in the country. Why would this invasive reporting requirement completely unrelated to mental health services be included in the law? Ultimately it was because a few large healthcare corporations knew they could make a lot of money by requiring state Medicaid agencies to report this new information and companies like Sandata and Optum had the software and training available to implement it albeit for a hefty price."