SF 998

1st Engrossment - 89th Legislature (2015 - 2016) Posted on 08/27/2015 03:50pm

A bill for an act
relating to human services; setting minimum reimbursement rates under
medical assistance for public health nurse home visits; appropriating money for
nurse-family partnership programs; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota
Statutes, chapter 256B.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

new text begin [256B.7625] REIMBURSEMENT FOR PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE
HOME VISITS.
new text end

new text begin Effective for services provided on or after July 1, 2015, minimum payment rates
under this chapter shall be $140 per visit for managed care and fee-for-service visits for
public health nurse home visits administered by home visiting programs that meet the
United States Department of Health and Human Services criteria for evidence-based
models and are identified by the commissioner of health as eligible to be implemented
under the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program. Home visits
shall be targeted to mothers and their children beginning with prenatal visits through
age three for the child. The commissioner shall adjust managed care and county-based
purchasing capitation rates to reflect the payment rates under this section.
new text end

Sec. 2. new text begin APPROPRIATIONS; NURSE-FAMILY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS.
new text end

new text begin (a) $1,000,000 in fiscal year 2016 is appropriated from the general fund to the
commissioner of health to provide planning and start-up grants to community health
boards and tribal nations not providing the nurse-family partnership program as of June
30, 2015. The grant funds must be used to establish nurse-family partnership programs
in the county, reservation, or region to serve first-time mothers, prenatally by 28 weeks
gestation until the child is two years of age, who are eligible for medical assistance under
Minnesota Statutes, chapter 256B, or the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program
for Women, Infants, and Children. Nurse-family partnership programs must strictly
adhere to the evidence-based program model established by the Nurse-Family Partnership
National Service Office, including any clinical, programmatic, and data collection
requirements. The commissioner shall award grants to community health boards or tribal
nations in metropolitan and rural areas of the state. Priority shall be given to community
health boards or tribal nations that establish or expand regional partnerships in rural
Minnesota to implement the nurse-family partnership program through a Minnesota
health care program-enrolled provider that accepts medical assistance. This is a onetime
appropriation and shall not become part of the base. Any unexpended funds in the first
year of the biennium carry over to the second year.
new text end

new text begin (b) $2,000,000 in fiscal year 2016 and $2,000,000 in fiscal year 2017 are
appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of health to provide expansion
grants to community health boards and tribal nations to expand existing nurse-family
partnership programs. Grant funds must be used to expand nurse-family partnership
programs in the county, reservation, or region to serve additional first-time mothers,
prenatally by 28 weeks gestation until the child is two years of age, who are eligible
for medical assistance under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 256B, or the federal Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. The commissioner
shall award grants to community health boards or tribal nations in metropolitan and
rural areas of the state. Priority for all grants shall be given to nurse-family partnership
programs that provide services through a Minnesota health care program-enrolled provider
that accepts medical assistance. Additionally, priority for grants to rural areas shall be
given to community health boards and tribal nations that expand services within regional
partnerships that provide the nurse-family partnership program. Funding available under
this paragraph may only be used to supplement, not to replace, funds being used for
nurse-family partnership home visiting services as of June 30, 2015. This appropriation
shall become part of the base for the 2018-2019 biennium.
new text end