The Home and Community Based Settings (HCBS) Final Rule, a federal policy change announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), provides new opportunities for people with disabilities to have the kinds of community services they want.
Find information about the HCBS Final Settings Rule and resources in Pennsylvania and nationally to help you get the community life you want.
A PowerPoint Slide Deck was released on May 24, 2022, sharing an updated strategy for implementation of the home and community-based settings regulation, developed in partnership with the Administration for Community Living (ACL), that aligns the focus of federal support and state compliance activities with the realities of the direct-service workforce crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). CMS and ACL believe this strategy will ensure implementation of important regulatory criteria related to beneficiary rights in the short-term, with sustained state and provider efforts to fully implement all other settings criteria.
Updated guidance on Home and Community-Based Services regulation bulletin via Medicaid.gov 3/22/2019
Statement of HCBS Advocacy Coalition Regarding Guidance from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Regarding the HCBS Settings Rule (PDF)
"Even as we are pleased to see CMS reaffirm its intent to preserve and faithfully implement the HCBS Settings Rule, we are disappointed by the agency's decision to modify prior guidance regarding the heightened scrutiny process for 'settings that isolate.' The prior guidance used evidence-based guidelines..."
HCBS Overview - overview video about the Home and Community Based Settings Services rule and its various components
Council on Quality and Leadership's The Realities of House Rules
This project is supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council; in part by grant #1901PASCDD-02, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.
