Report: Waiting Lists Preventing Hundreds of Thousands from Accessing HCBS

McKnight’s Home Care | By Adam Healy

Since 2016, waiting lists for home- and community-based services (HCBS) have kept more than 600,000 people from accessing care each year, while staffing woes and funding uncertainties present no hope for improvement, a new report finds. 
 
More than 70% of these people waiting in line have intellectual or developmental disabilities, while another 25% are adults and seniors with physical disabilities, according to a recent report from KFF. In 2023, there were a total of 692,000 people waiting to receive HCBS, and the number has steadily gone up in each of the last three years.
 
“Waiting lists may reflect both shortages of workers and insufficient state funds,” KFF noted. “Although states reported increasing provider payment rates and other efforts to bolster the workforce, challenges remain and some of states’ policies for addressing those challenges have ended with the conclusion of pandemic-era programs.” 
 
Long-term services and supports, which include HCBS, are historically grossly underfunded, and states will likely have to chip in more next year as enhanced federal funding brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic expires. But though the workforce shortage often keeps Medicaid beneficiaries stuck waiting, state processes can also create obstacles, according to the report. 

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