On March 8th, the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) issued a letter (available here) announcing the continuation of Appendix K emergency modifications to the OPWDD 1915(c) Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Waiver. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved an extension of current flexibilities through March 31st. OPWDD expects further extension of these Appendix K flexibilities, which were initially approved by CMS in April 2020, past the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Additionally, the Appendix K update will provide retroactive temporary flexibility to bill for reduced program day duration hours for Day Habilitation and Prevocational Services providers that have closed as part of COVID-19 containment efforts. This flexibility was previously available but lapsed October 14, 2020. Under the new Appendix K, effective October 15, 2020, under certain circumstances such as a required or voluntary closure of programs to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the program day duration for billing Day Habilitation and Site-Based Prevocational Services is modified to allow a program day duration of two hours to reimburse for a full unit and one hour to reimburse for a half unit.
OPWDD will host a webinar on Friday, March 12th at 11am for Day Habilitation and Site Based Prevocational Service providers to provide additional information and guidance related to the Appendix K changes. Registration is available here.
