§ 43-2511 — Statewide billing system; establishment; participation required; implementation and administrative costs; how treated

There is hereby established a statewide billing system for
accessing federal medicaid funds for special education and related services
provided by school districts. The system shall apply to all students verified
with disabilities from date of diagnosis to twenty-one years of age as allowed
under the federal Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988. The system shall
be developed, implemented,
and administered jointly by the Department of Health and Human
Services and the State Department of Education. On or before October 1, 2015, the Department of Health and
Human Services and the State Department of Education shall jointly revise
the statewide billing system to streamline and simplify the claims process,
to update reimbursement rates, and to incorporate services included in the
state plan amendment submitted pursuant to subsection (4) of section 68-911 .
After the reimbursement rates have been updated pursuant to this section,
such rates shall be reviewed at least once every five years. School
districts, educational service units, or approved cooperatives providing special
education and related services shall be required to participate in the statewide
billing system. Eleven
and fifty-four hundredths percent of federal medicaid funds received by school
districts pursuant to such billing system shall be considered reimbursement
for the costs to school districts associated with the implementation and administration of such
a system, and such costs shall
be included in the medicaid reimbursement rates
to be established for each service. From the amount provided pursuant
to section 43-2515 to aid in carrying out the Early Intervention Act, the
Department of Health and Human Services shall retain, for the purposes of
implementing and administering the statewide billing system and early intervention
services coordination services, an amount equal to the lesser of the actual
cost of implementing and administering the statewide billing system and early
intervention services coordination services or (1) for fiscal year 2014-15,
two hundred forty-two thousand dollars, (2) for fiscal year 2015-16, three
hundred thousand dollars, or (3) for fiscal year 2016-17 and each fiscal year
thereafter, the amount retained for such purposes for the prior year increased
by five percent.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 1991, LB 701, § 10; Laws 1993, LB 520, § 16; Laws 1996, LB 1044, § 216; Laws 2007, LB296, § 145; Laws 2014, LB276, § 1.