4513-1020 Early Intervention Services

For the early intervention program; provided, that the department of public health shall submit quarterly reports to the house and senate committees on ways and means on the total number of units of service purchased and the total expenditures for the units of service paid by the department, the executive office of health and human services and third-party payers for early intervention services for the following service categories: (i) home visit; (ii) center-based individual; (iii) child-focused group; (iv) parentfocused group; and (v) screening and assessment; provided further, that the department shall make all reasonable efforts to secure third-party and Medicaid reimbursements for the services funded in this item; provided further, that funds from this item shall be expended to provide respite services to families of children enrolled in early intervention programs who have complex care requirements, multiple disabilities and extensive medical and health needs; provided further, that priority shall be given to low-income and moderate-income families; provided further, that not later than January 31, 2024, the department shall submit a report to the house and senate committees on ways and means on the number of families served by the program and the amount of funds appropriated in this item granted to qualified families; provided further, that no claim for reimbursement made on behalf of an uninsured person shall be paid from this item until the program receives notice of a denial of eligibility for the MassHealth program from the executive office of health and human services; provided further, that MassHealth shall cover the costs incurred for the transportation of MassHealth members who participate in the early intervention program; provided further, that nothing in this item shall give rise to, or shall be construed as giving rise to, enforceable legal rights to any such services or an enforceable entitlement to the early intervention services funded in this item; provided further, that not less than 90 days prior to any change to current eligibility criteria, the department shall provide written notification to the house and senate committees on ways and means; provided further, that no eligibility changes shall be made before January 1, 2024; provided further, that funds in this item may be used to pay for current and prior year claims; provided further, that the department shall provide services to eligible children through 1 service delivery model and shall not determine eligibility for services based on family insurance status; provided further, that not later than March 1, 2024, the department shall submit to the executive office for administration and finance and to the house and senate committees on ways and means a status update on the early intervention state-assigned student identifier pilot program; provided further, that the update shall include a cost estimate for expanding the pilot to additional sites in fiscal year 2025; provided further, that not later than September 1, 2023, not less than $12,000,000 shall be expended from this item for early intervention staffing recovery payments necessary to address the staffing crisis and restore early intervention staffing and service hours through hiring, rehiring and retention of clinical and support staff across the early intervention system; provided further, that said funds shall be used to support increased salaries, wages and benefits for early intervention clinicians and support staff; provided further, that said funds may be used to cover supervision, training, non-billable time and other on-boarding cost directly associated with the hiring of new early intervention clinicians and support staff; provided further, that not less than $8,697,495 of said funds shall be expended for staffing recovery payments shall be distributed by the department as payment vouchers to the 59 certified early intervention programs; provided further, that said payments shall be made on a proportional basis, calculated using the early intervention child counts published on October 1, 2022; provided further, that not less than $302,505 of said staffing recovery payments shall be distributed by the department as payment vouchers to early intensive behavioral intervention service providers and the Perkins School for the Blind; provided further, that said payments shall be made on a proportional basis, calculated using the department's early intensive behavioral intervention child counts published on October 1, 2022; provided further, that not less than $3,000,000 of said staffing recovery payments shall be designated as a health equity allocation to provide additional targeted relief for certified early intervention programs serving predominately low- income cities and towns to address the health disparities exacerbated by the 2019 novel coronavirus; provided further, that said health equity allocation shall be distributed by the department to all vendors of certified early intervention programs using a weighted formula that includes the area median household income of the cities and towns in each of the early intervention program catchment areas and the current early intervention child census figure for each city or town; provided further, that the department shall provide a higher cost per child allocation for programs based on a weighted average income figure to ensure a higher allocation for the early intervention programs serving cities and towns with lower area median household incomes; provided further, that the department shall develop the health equity allocation formula in consultation with the Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium, Inc.; and provided further, that not later than November 1, 2023, the commissioner of public health shall submit a report to the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities, the executive office for administration and finance and the house and senate committees on ways and means detailing the total funds expended to certified early intervention vendors and early intensive behavioral intervention vendors from this item