An Act To Index MaineCare Reimbursement to Nursing Homes and Other Adult Care Facilities to Increases in the Minimum Wage
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1309
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: TIMBERLAKE, MORRIS, BLACK, DOW, KEIM, DILLINGHAM, STEWART
Amends: 22 MRSA §1708

Legislative Document
No. 1309
S.P. 405
In Senate, March 19, 2019
An Act To Index MaineCare Reimbursement to Nursing Homes and 
Other Adult Care Facilities to Increases in the Minimum Wage
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator TIMBERLAKE of Androscoggin.
Cosponsored by Representative MORRIS of Turner and
Senators: BLACK of Franklin, DOW of Lincoln, KEIM of Oxford, Representatives: 
DILLINGHAM of Oxford, STEWART of Presque Isle.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §1708, sub-§3, ¶F, as amended by PL 2017, c. 460, Pt. B, §1, 
is further amended to read:
F.  Establish a nursing facility's base year every 2 years and increase the rate of 
reimbursement beginning July 1, 2014 and every year thereafter until June 30, 2018.  
For the state fiscal year beginning July 1, 2018, the base year for each facility is its 
fiscal year that ended in the calendar year 2016.  For state fiscal years beginning on 
or after July 1, 2019, subsequent rebasing must be based on the most recent cost 
report filings available.  The department may provide a mechanism for subsequent 
adjustments to base year costs to reflect any material difference between as-filed cost 
reports used in rebasing and subsequent determinations of audited, allowable costs 
for the same fiscal period.  The department's rules must provide that, beginning in the 
state fiscal year beginning July 1, 2018, the rates set for each rebasing year must 
include an inflation adjustment for a cost-of-living percentage change in nursing 
facility reimbursement each year in accordance with the United States Department of 
Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index medical care services index.  
The department's rules must provide for an increase in the rates each time the 
minimum hourly wage established in Title 26, section 664, subsection 1 is increased, 
in the amount of that minimum hourly wage increase, and the increase in the rate of 
reimbursement under this paragraph must be retroactive to the date of the increase in 
the minimum hourly wage.
Any rebasing done pursuant to this paragraph may not result in a nursing facility 
receiving a reimbursement rate that is lower than the rate in effect on June 30, 2018.
Sec. 2.  PL 2017, c. 460, Pt. B, §2, sub-§3 is amended to read:
3.  Rate study.  Cost-of-living increases as described in subsection 2 must continue 
on an annual basis until the Department of Health and Human Services has completed a 
rate study conducted by a 3rd party, including participation of providers, for adult family 
care services, adult day services or homemaker services and the rates in the rate study 
have been implemented.  Notwithstanding subsection 2, after a rate study has been 
completed pursuant to this subsection, rates for adult family care services must be 
increased each year by the amount of the increase to the minimum hourly wage that takes 
place pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 26, section 664, subsection 1.  The 
increase in the rate of reimbursement under this subsection must be retroactive to the date 
of the increase of the minimum hourly wage.
Sec. 3.  PL 2017, c. 460, Pt. B, §4, sub-§2 is amended to read:
2.  Adjustment for inflation for rates for fiscal year 2019-20 and thereafter.  For 
the state fiscal year ending June 30, 2020 and each year thereafter, the MaineCare 
payment rates attributable to wages and salaries in each cost component specified in 
subsection 1 must be increased by an inflation factor in accordance with the United States 
Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index medical care 
services index.  The department's rules must provide for an increase in the rates each time 
the minimum hourly wage established in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 26, section 
664, subsection 1 is increased, in the amount of that minimum hourly wage increase, and 
the increase in the rate of reimbursement under this section must be retroactive to the date 
of the increase in the minimum hourly wage.
SUMMARY
This bill increases the reimbursement rates under the MaineCare program to nursing 
facilities, adult family care homes and residential care facilities by the amount of the 
minimum wage increase that occurs on January 1st of each year as outlined in the Maine 
Revised Statutes, Title 26, section 664, subsection 1.  The increases in reimbursement 
rates must be retroactive to the date of the increase in the minimum wage.