Bill > S366

This bill aims to expand the availability of on-site service coordination and supports at affordable senior housing properties in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The key provisions include: 1. The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) will develop a demonstration program to establish site-based staffing teams of enhanced service coordinators and wellness nurses, modeled on the Supports and Services at Home (SASH) program. The participating properties may include state-financed senior housing, public housing authority-managed senior housing, and privately developed and owned, federally subsidized senior housing properties. 2. The demonstration program will seek to facilitate coordination between the on-site teams at the senior housing entities and the care management of managed and integrated care plans, such as Senior Care Options (SCOs), PACE, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), and Medicare Advantage plans. The program will also explore creative solutions to incentivize collaboration and fund the on-site support team. 3. In instances where the function of the Geriatric Support Services Coordinator (GSSC) can be conducted by the on-site housing team, EOHHS will waive the requirement for the participating SCOs to contract with a separate GSSC. 4. The demonstration will also seek to better coordinate and streamline case management and home care services authorized and provided by Aging Service Access Points (ASAPs) in participating senior housing sites. 5. EOHHS will report to the Chairs of the Committee on House and Senate Ways Means within 365 days after enactment on the details of the demonstration program, including the number of participating housing entities, the names of participating care plans, and the number of new service coordinators funded and residents enrolled in the participating plans.

Health and Social Services

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/S366