1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to human services; requiring the commissioner 
  1.3             of human services to study and make recommendations on 
  1.4             the administration of the community alternative care 
  1.5             program, and to study and report on the effect on 
  1.6             medical assistance waiver programs of medically 
  1.7             fragile children in foster care. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  [COMMUNITY ALTERNATIVE CARE PROGRAM; EVALUATION 
  1.10  AND RECOMMENDATIONS.] 
  1.11     The commissioner of human services shall review the 
  1.12  administration of the community alternative care home and 
  1.13  community-based waiver program, and evaluate the extent to which 
  1.14  the program is administered in a consistent manner throughout 
  1.15  the state.  The commissioner shall also study and make 
  1.16  recommendations about changing the community alternative care 
  1.17  waiver program to a regionally administered program, following 
  1.18  the model of the traumatic brain injury waiver program.  The 
  1.19  commissioner shall submit the evaluation and recommendations 
  1.20  required under this section by February 1, 1996, to the chairs 
  1.21  of the health and human services committee, the health and human 
  1.22  services finance division, the health care committee, and the 
  1.23  health care and family services finance division. 
  1.24     Sec. 2.  [STUDY OF FOSTER CARE FOR MEDICALLY FRAGILE AND 
  1.25  TECHNOLOGY-DEPENDENT CHILDREN.] 
  1.26     The commissioner of human services shall utilize staff in 
  2.1   the families with children services division, the long-term care 
  2.2   home and community-based services division, the division for 
  2.3   persons with developmental disabilities, and the quality 
  2.4   services division to examine and report on strategies for 
  2.5   supporting families with medically fragile and 
  2.6   technology-dependent children.  The study must examine and 
  2.7   report on the coordination and administration of medical 
  2.8   assistance services, including services through the home and 
  2.9   community-based waiver programs, with respect to the out-of-home 
  2.10  placement of medically fragile and technology-dependent 
  2.11  children.  The study must also examine and recommend strategies 
  2.12  for decreasing the number of these children who are 
  2.13  hospitalized, or whose length of stay in a hospital is extended 
  2.14  because appropriate foster care placements are not available or 
  2.15  not affordable under the current reimbursement system for the 
  2.16  medical assistance waiver programs.  The commissioner shall 
  2.17  submit the report to the legislature by January 15, 1996.