The Commissioner of Social Services shall establish annually the maximum allowable rate to be paid by agencies for homemaker services, chore person services, companion services, respite care, meals on wheels, adult day care services, case management and assessment services, transportation, mental health counseling and elderly foster care. The Commissioner of Social Services shall prescribe uniform forms on which agencies providing such services shall report their costs for such services. Such rates shall be determined on the basis of a reasonable payment for necessary services rendered. The maximum allowable rates established by the Commissioner of Social Services for the Connecticut home-care program for the elderly established under section 17b-342 shall constitute the rates required under this section until revised in accordance with this section. The Commissioner of Social Services shall establish a fee schedule, to be effective on and after July 1, 1994, for homemaker services, chore person services, companion services, respite care, meals on wheels, adult day care services, case management and assessment services, transportation, mental health counseling and elderly foster care. The commissioner may annually increase the fee schedule based on an increase in the cost of services. The commissioner shall increase the fee schedule effective July 1, 2000, by not less than five per cent, for adult day care services. The commissioner shall increase the fee schedule effective July 1, 2011, by four dollars per person, per day for adult day care services. The commissioner shall increase the fee schedule effective July 1, 2019, for meals on wheels by ten per cent over the fee schedule for meals on wheels for the previous fiscal year. Effective July 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, the commissioner may increase the fee schedule for meals on wheels providers serving participants in the Connecticut home-care program for the elderly by, at a minimum, the cost-of-living adjustment as measured by the consumer price index. The commissioner may increase any fee payable to a meals on wheels provider upon the application of such provider evidencing extraordinary costs related to delivery of meals on wheels in sparsely populated rural regions of the state. Nothing contained in this section shall authorize a payment by the state to any agency for such services in excess of the amount charged by such agency for such services to the general public.
(P.A. 86-319, S. 1; P.A. 87-516, S. 4; 87-589, S. 64, 87; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-8, S. 21, 63; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-16, S. 32, 89; P.A. 93-262, S. 1, 38, 87; 93-418, S. 26, 41; 93-435, S. 59, 95; P.A. 95-160, S. 8, 69; P.A. 96-139, S. 12, 13; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 00-2, S. 17, 53; P.A. 11-44, S. 166; P.A. 19-117, S. 308; 19-157, S. 98.)
History: P.A. 87-516 provided that the commissioner of income maintenance shall establish the maximum rates in consultation with the commissioner of human resources and the commissioner on aging, added transportation and mental health counseling to the list of services, and specified the maximum allowable rates for the preadmission screening and community-based services program; P.A. 87-589 added “until revised in accordance with this section”; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-8 amended the section re rate determination and the rate of payment for home care services, transportation and mental health counseling; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-16 provided that the maximum allowable rates in effect on July 1, 1990, shall remain in effect during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1993, and provided that for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1993, any rate established in a subcontract between coordination, assessment and monitoring agencies and direct care providers shall not exceed the rate in effect on June 30, 1992, increased by the most recent annual increase in the consumer price index for urban consumers; P.A. 93-262 replaced references to commissioners of income maintenance, human resources and aging with commissioner of social services and replaced the words “preadmission screening and community-based services program” with the words “Connecticut home-care program for the elderly”, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-418 required the commissioner to establish a fee schedule for home care services on and after July 1, 1994, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-435 authorized substitution of commissioner of social services for commissioner of income maintenance in P.A. 93-418, effective June 28, 1993; Sec. 17-314c transferred to Sec. 17b-343 in 1995; P.A. 95-160 deleted the reference to coordination, assessment and monitoring agencies, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-139 changed effective date of P.A. 95-160 but without affecting this section; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 00-2 provided that the fee schedule for adult day care services shall increase by not less than 5%, effective July 1, 2000; P.A. 11-44 added provision requiring commissioner to increase fee schedule for adult day care services and made a technical change, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 19-117 added provision re commissioner to increase fee schedule effective July 1, 2019 for meals on wheels by 10 per cent, and made technical changes, effective July 1, 2019; P.A. 19-157 added provision re commissioner's authority to increase fee schedule for meals on wheels providers, effective July 1, 2019.