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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

CILs: Urge Your State Medicaid Director to Apply for an EVV Good Faith Effort Exemption Request

The 21st Century Cures Act (Section 12006(a)) requires that states implement electronic visit verification (EVV) systems for Medicaid personal care services and home health services. After the passage of the EVV delay bill last year, states are now required to implement EVV for personal care services by January 1, 2020 (states are still required to implement EVV for home health services by January 1, 2023).

The Cures Act allows states to delay implementation of EVV for up to a year if they can show they’ve made a “good faith effort” to comply with the requirements but have encountered “unavoidable system delays.” While the EVV systems rolling out across the country vary from state to state, the one constant of these systems is the threat to our privacy and our independent living. Further, we’ve seen widespread exclusion of disabled stakeholders throughout the process in almost all states.

These concerns unquestionably warrant further planning and collaboration, and with the deadline fast approaching, we’re encouraging all who are concerned with your state’s system to find your State Medicaid Director and contact them. Urge them to submit a good faith effort exemption request. CMS strongly encourages states to submit good faith effort exemption requests by November 30, 2019, so we encourage you to get in touch with your State Medicaid Directors today.

Eleven states have already been approved for exemptions. See which states have submitted and which ones have been approved.

How your State Medicaid Director can file a good faith effort exemption:

State Medicaid Directors are required to use the “Good Faith Effort Request Form – Personal Care Services” to submit a request. Once completed, the form can be emailed to [email protected] with the subject line “[State Name] EVV Good Faith Effort Exemption Request.”

If you’d like more background on NCIL’s concerns about EVV, you can find them in this advocacy document: