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ARRM News & Updates

The ARRM Daily Dispatch Blog is a source for ARRM members to stay updated and informed on both association news but also on unique and specialized analysis of current events, policy, and regulatory issues. Staff work to post updates regularly.

2024 DWRS Rate Increases Explained and Tools Provided

By Ken Bence posted 07-07-2023
As you are hopefully aware at this point, the 2023 legislative session outcomes included some pretty significant changes to the Disability Waiver Rate System (DWRS) component values and the schedule of updates, which will result in rate increases beginning in 2024. That's good news! Following is a digest ...
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CMS Proposed Access Rule: Public Comments Due July 3

By Ken Bence posted 06-20-2023
As you may be aware, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking early last month that broadly seeks to improve access to care and better address health equity issues in the Medicaid program. Entitled Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services , many provisions ...
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2023 Legislative Wins

By Sue Schettle posted 05-22-2023
ARRM Members, Going into the 2023 legislative session, ARRM had an ambitious legislative agenda. Six separate pieces of legislation were introduced, dealing with a variety of issues from sustainable rate adjustments for waiver and ICF/DD services to licensing changes, service delivery modifications, ...
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Final Day of the 2023 Legislative Session

By Sara Grafstrom posted 05-22-2023
Today marks the last day of the 2023 Legislative Session and while there are still a few outstanding items for the legislature to act on today. The Human Service bill, which contains most of the provisions that impact ARRM members, passed off the House and Senate floor last Friday. In the coming days, ...
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Final Human Service Conference Committee Budget Spreadsheet Available

By Sara Grafstrom posted 05-14-2023
Late Sunday evening the final spreadsheet for the Human Service Conference Committee report was made available; bill language has not been made available, so we do not have the details of the proposals that were included. However, below is a high-level analysis of ARRM Legislative Agenda priorities that ...
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CMS Approves the Latest Amendments to the DD Waiver

By Ken Bence posted 05-09-2023
You may recall that DHS issued proposed amendments to the Developmental Disabilities (DD) waiver in January, with a 30-day public comment period that closed on February 16. ARRM submitted written comments with input from many of you, as did several provider organizations. DHS issued a bulletin on May ...
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Legislative Update: Two weeks left of session, Human Service Conference Committee begins meeting

By Sara Grafstrom posted 05-07-2023
The Human Service Conference Committee began meeting last week with the first hearing on Tuesday featuring a walk through of the House, Senate and Governor’s proposals and public testimony taken during the Wednesday hearing. Along with ARRM’s letter submitted to conferees last week, I also provided ...
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Human Service Conference Committee begins meeting this week

By Sara Grafstrom posted 05-01-2023
Last week the House passed the Human Service Omnibus bill off the House floor. With the passage of this bill, a Conference Committee has now been formed to work out the differences between the House and Senate proposal and develop a final Human Service budget omnibus bill. Conference Committee members ...
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Legislative Update: Human Service Omnibus on House floor Tuesday

By Sara Grafstrom posted 04-24-2023
Last week, the Senate Human Service Omnibus bill was passed off the Senate floor with a vote of 63-4. ARRM released this action alert , thanking Senators for their support of this bill and the important provisions that would increase funding for disability waiver services and services provided in an ...
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Human Service Bill heads to the Senate Floor

By Sara Grafstrom posted 04-16-2023
As we move towards the end of session, legislative action directly impacting ARRM members becomes less frequent as attention turns toward the passage of omnibus bills. You can review here what is and is not included in the House and Senate Human Service Omnibus bills. Last week, the Senate Finance ...
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