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Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act To Require the Department of Health and Human Services To Update Its Rules Governing Services for Children with Cognitive Impairments and Functional Limitations’
Amend the bill by striking out all of section 1 and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §3174-YY  is enacted to read:
§ 3174-YY. Coverage of rehabilitative and community support services for children with cognitive impairments and functional limitations
 
1.  Ongoing working group.     The department shall establish an ongoing working group to evaluate research on treatments for children with cognitive impairments and functional limitations to determine treatments that can be considered evidence-based and may be eligible for MaineCare reimbursement and submit those recommendations to the commissioner for consideration. By January 15th of each odd-numbered year, beginning in 2017, the working group shall submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters that outlines the working group's findings, current levels of evidence for treatments and any actions that have been taken by the department based on the working group's recommendations. The ongoing working group consists of department staff, providers of services to children with cognitive impairments and functional limitations, family members of children who receive services and advocates for children. The working group shall identify treatments that integrate the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture and preference. The department shall adopt rules to develop the ongoing working group. Rules adopted pursuant to this section are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.
 
2.  Publication of available treatments.    The department shall publish the reports of the ongoing working group established pursuant to subsection 1 and a list of evidence-based treatments for children with cognitive impairments and functional limitations that are reimbursed by MaineCare and update the list whenever a new reimbursable treatment is available.’
 
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is the majority report of the committee, establishes an ongoing working group to evaluate research on treatments for children with cognitive impairments and functional limitations to determine treatments that are evidence-based and that may be eligible for MaineCare and to submit recommendations to the Commissioner of Health and Human Services. The working group shall submit a report on findings, current level of evidence and actions taken by the Department of Health and Human Services to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters by January 15th of each odd-numbered year. It adds a requirement for the Department of Health and Human Services to publish a list of evidence-based treatments for children with cognitive impairments and functional limitations that are reimbursed by MaineCare. The amendment retains the rule-making requirement in the bill.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)