Preparing to come home: Recommendations for transition planning from North Carolina's Money Follows the Person Demonstration Project.

CMS alleges that North Carolina’s eligibility criteria and payment rates for Personal Care Services (PCS) are not “comparable” between ACH and in-home settings. A combined total of approximately 45,000 individuals receive such services at an annual cost to the state’s Medicaid Program of more than $400 million (DMA, unpublished data). North Carolina has worked with CMS to develop a 1915(i) Medicaid state plan option that will address these comparability concerns and try to meet the demands for PCS across both settings while meeting state budget expectations. The state’s agreement with CMS and its plan of correction allow the current PCS program to operate through the end of December 2012. Effective January 1, 2013, a new PCS program operating under the 1915(i) authority will be in place. This new PCS program will address the “comparability” issues by basing PCS eligibility on a set of target population criteria and by requiring Preparing to Come Home: Recommendations for Transition Planning from North Carolina’s Money Follows the Person Demonstration Project