CMS Releases Medicaid Long Term Services and Supports Annual Expenditures Report for Fiscal Year 2019

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the most recent Medicaid Long Term Services and Supports (LTSS) Expenditures Report, which covers Fiscal Year 2019. LTSS encompasses a wide array of services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and can include institutional care, such as that provided in nursing facilities or intermediate care facilities for individuals with I/DD and home and community-based services (HCBS).

The report found that total Medicaid LTSS spending increased from $129 billion in FY 2018 to $162 billion in FY 2019 with nursing facilities representing the greatest share of institutional LTSS expenditures. The report also found expenditures for Section 1915(c) waiver programs represented the majority of HCBS expenditures in FY 2019, accounting for slightly more than 50 percent of those expenditures.