WICS Live: Around the States

Washington: Restraining Order Lifted, State May Implement Law Prohibiting Payment for In-home Support Services Provided by Agency Employees Related to the Client: The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled August 12 that a group of Medicaid beneficiaries and individuals who provide supports and services in the home through agencies were not likely to prevail on their claim that the new law, SBH 2361, violated their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act or the Medicaid Act. SBH 2361 prevents the state Department of Social and Health Services from paying a home care agency for services provided by a family member of the client. The law applies only to home care agency-associated providers (APs) and does not prevent Medicaid beneficiaries from obtaining services from their relatives as “individual providers” (IPs), the court said. In making its decision, the court noted that the question before it was whether the state statute violated the constitutional rights of the beneficiaries or the personal care services providers, not whether the Washington Legislature had made an appropriate legislative policy decision.