Frequently Asked Questions

The new flexibilities for SBS are policy options available to States, but are not required. If States have questions, we encourage them to reach out to the SBS email SchoolBasedServices@cms.hhs.gov to engage in any needed technical assistance.

FAQ ID:162471

States should review the 2023 Comprehensive Guide to Medicaid Services and Administrative Claiming to ensure that their current SBS policies are consistent with all federal requirements. States are required to submit any necessary changes to their SPAs, TSIP, MAC Plan, PACAP, etc., to adhere to all applicable federal requirements as discussed in the 2023 Comprehensive Guide as quickly as possible, if changes are needed, with the expectation that any necessary changes will be requested and approved by July 1, 2026. CMS encourages states to start the submission process as soon as possible to allow for optimal time for review and necessary revisions.  If the State has questions about compliance, CMS is available to assist. We encourage them to reach out to the SBS email SchoolBasedServices@cms.hhs.gov to engage in any needed technical assistance.

FAQ ID:162476

The MLTSS assessment and care planning measures include:

• LTSS Comprehensive Assessment and Update
• LTSS Comprehensive Care Plan and Update
• LTSS Shared Care Plan with Primary Care Practitioner(PCP)
• LTSS Reassessment/Care Plan Update after Inpatient Discharge
• Screening, Risk Assessment, and Plan of Care to Prevent Future Falls: Falls Part 1 (Screening) and Falls Part 2 (Risk Assessment and Plan of Care)

FAQ ID:89066

It is recommended that MLTSS plans report both rates. However, if the state believes there are valid reasons for not reporting both rates, such as costly changes in assessment and care planning forms and information technology systems, it might consider phasing in the supplemental rates over time. For instance, in the first year of measure use (for example, measurement year 2018), the state could require MLTSS plans to report just the core rate, and then require that MLTSS plans report both core and supplemental rates for measurement year 2019 or 2020. Although they are called "supplemental rates," they are still very important, and should be viewed as "aspirational." MLTSS plans should strive to cover more assessment and care plan elements over time.

FAQ ID:89071

Value sets are the complete set of procedure and diagnostic codes used to identify a service or condition included in a measure. One of the assessment and care planning measures—LTSS Reassessment/Care Plan Update after Inpatient Discharge—uses value sets to identify potentially planned hospitalizations. Please see "Do I need to use value sets to calculate these measures? If so, where can I find the value sets?" for more information regarding using value sets for the three institutional rebalancing and utilization measures.

View the value sets (XLSX, 2.88 MB). Please see Table 2 in the "LTSS Value Sets to Codes" tab. Table 1 in the "LTSS Measures to Value Sets" tab shows each value set needed for each measure.

FAQ ID:89076

Yes, the same sample can be used for Part 1 of the Screening, Risk Assessment, and Plan of Care to Prevent Future Falls measure as the LTSS Comprehensive Assessment and Update, LTSS Comprehensive Care Plan and Update, and LTSS Shared Care Plan with Primary Care Practitioner measures.

FAQ ID:89081

No, an upper payment limit demonstration considers all Medicaid payments (base and supplemental). States must conduct UPL demonstrations for the applicable services described in State Medicaid Director Letter (SMDL) 13-003 regardless of whether a state makes supplemental payments under the Medicaid state plan for the services.

FAQ ID:92191

The cost of the tax should be reported in Variable 401 - MCD Provider Tax Cost. A state may separately report the Medicaid portion of the cost of a provider assessment/tax only when it is using a cost based methodology to calculate the UPL. A state may not include this cost when calculating a DRG or Payment based UPL demonstration.

FAQ ID:92366

FAQ ID:92871

The Review Tool Report is a feature CPOCs, SRTs, Senior Reviewers, Package Approvers, Package Disapprovers, and CMS Report Admins can utilize to see Package Reviewable Units, Reviewers, Reviewable Unit Assessment Values, and Notes.

Log in as CMS Point of Contact or Submission Review Team member. Under the "Records" tab, select "Submission Packages". Then select the link to the submission package. In the left panel, select "Review Tool Report". You may sort the reviews of all Review Team members by Package Reviewable Unit, Reviewer, Reviewable Unit Assessment Value, or Note/Assessments by utilizing the drop-down boxes. You also have the ability to export this report to Excel by selecting "Export to Excel."

FAQ ID:92876