(a) The pilot program must be designed to:
(1) increase access to long-term services and supports;
(2) improve quality of acute care services and long-term services and supports;
(3) promote:
(A) informed choice and meaningful outcomes by using person-centered planning, flexible consumer-directed services, individualized budgeting, and self-determination; and
(B) community inclusion and engagement;
(4) promote integrated service coordination of acute care services and long-term services and supports;
(5) promote efficiency and the best use of funding based on an individual’s needs and preferences;
(6) promote through housing supports and navigation services stability in housing that is the most integrated and least restrictive based on the individual’s needs and preferences;
(7) promote employment assistance and customized, integrated, and competitive employment;
(8) provide fair hearing and appeals processes in accordance with applicable federal and state law;
(9) promote sufficient flexibility to achieve the goals listed in this section through the pilot program;
(10) promote the use of innovative technologies and benefits, including telemedicine, telemonitoring, the testing of remote monitoring, transportation services, and other innovations that support community integration;
(11) ensure an adequate provider network that includes comprehensive long-term services and supports providers and ensure that pilot program participants have a choice among those providers;
(12) ensure the timely initiation and consistent provision of long-term services and supports in accordance with an individual’s person-centered plan;
(13) ensure that individuals with complex behavioral, medical, and physical needs are assessed and receive appropriate services in the most integrated and least restrictive setting based on the individuals’ needs and preferences;
(14) increase access to, expand flexibility of, and promote the use of the consumer direction model; and
(15) promote independence, self-determination, the use of the consumer direction model, and decision making by individuals participating in the pilot program by using alternatives to guardianship, including a supported decision-making agreement as defined by § 1357.002, Estates Code.
(b) An individual is not required to use an innovative technology described by Subsection (a)(10). If an individual chooses to use an innovative technology described by that subdivision, the commission shall ensure that services associated with the technology are delivered in a manner that:
(1) ensures the individual’s privacy, health, and well-being;
(2) provides access to housing in the most integrated and least restrictive environment;
(3) assesses individual needs and preferences to promote autonomy, self-determination, the use of the consumer direction model, and privacy;
(4) increases personal independence;
(5) specifies the extent to which the innovative technology will be used, including:
(A) the times of day during which the technology will be used;
(B) the place in which the technology may be used;
(C) the types of telemonitoring or remote monitoring that will be used; and
(D) for what purposes the technology will be used;
(6) is consistent with and agreed on during the person-centered planning process;
(7) ensures that staff overseeing the use of an innovative technology:
(A) review the person-centered and implementation plans for each individual before overseeing the use of the innovative technology; and
(B) demonstrate competency regarding the support needs of each individual using the innovative technology;
(8) ensures that an individual using an innovative technology is able to request the removal of equipment relating to the technology and, on receipt of a request for the removal, the equipment is immediately removed; and
(9) ensures that an individual is not required to use telemedicine at any point during the pilot program and, in the event the individual refuses to use telemedicine, the managed care organization providing health care services to the individual under the pilot program arranges for services that do not include telemedicine.

(c) The pilot program must be designed to test innovative payment rates and methodologies for the provision of long-term services and supports to achieve the goals of the pilot program by using payment methodologies that include:
(1) the payment of a bundled amount without downside risk to a comprehensive long-term services and supports provider for some or all services delivered as part of a comprehensive array of long-term services and supports;
(2) enhanced incentive payments to comprehensive long-term services and supports providers based on the completion of predetermined outcomes or quality metrics; and
(3) any other payment models approved by the commission.
(d) An alternative payment rate or methodology described by Subsection (c) may be used for a managed care organization and comprehensive long-term services and supports provider only if the organization and provider agree in advance and in writing to use the rate or methodology.
(e) In developing an alternative payment rate or methodology described by Subsection (c), the commission, managed care organizations, and comprehensive long-term services and supports providers shall consider:
(1) the historical costs of long-term services and supports, including Medicaid fee-for-service rates;
(2) reasonable cost estimates for new services under the pilot program; and
(3) whether an alternative payment rate or methodology is sufficient to promote quality outcomes and ensure a provider’s continued participation in the pilot program.
(f) An alternative payment rate or methodology described by Subsection (c) may not reduce the minimum payment received by a provider for the delivery of long-term services and supports under the pilot program below the fee-for-service reimbursement rate received by the provider for the delivery of those services before participating in the pilot program.
(g) The pilot program must allow a comprehensive long-term services and supports provider for individuals with an intellectual or developmental disability or similar functional needs that contracts with the commission to provide services under Medicaid before the implementation date of the pilot program to voluntarily participate in the pilot program. A provider’s choice not to participate in the pilot program does not affect the provider’s status as a significant traditional provider.
(h) Under the pilot program, a participating managed care organization shall provide long-term services and supports under Medicaid to persons with an intellectual or developmental disability and persons with similar functional needs to test its managed care strategy based on capitation.
(i) The commission, in consultation and collaboration with the advisory committee and pilot program workgroup, shall analyze information provided by the managed care organizations participating in the pilot program and any information collected by the commission during the operation of the pilot program for purposes of making a recommendation about a system of programs and services for implementation through future state legislation or rules.
(j) The analysis under Subsection (i) must include an assessment of the effect of the managed care strategies implemented in the pilot program on the goals described by this section.
(k) Before implementing the pilot program, the commission, in consultation and collaboration with the advisory committee and pilot program workgroup, shall develop and implement a process to ensure pilot program participants remain eligible for Medicaid benefits for 12 consecutive months during the pilot program.

Text of section effective until April 01, 2025