SB 287: Medical Assistance; Georgia Interested Parties Advisory Group within the Department of Community Health; create and establish a purpose

Georgia's Medicaid program pays for home and community based services (HCBS) that let people with disabilities or chronic conditions get care at home instead of in institutions. Federal rules require states to have an advisory group of interested parties weigh in on these programs. This bill sets up that group, called the Georgia Interested Parties Advisory Group, inside the Department of Community Health, with 19 members appointed by the Governor by October 1, 2025. The bill also requires HCBS provider agencies and financial support services providers (the companies that process payments for home care workers) to report detailed data each year starting January 1, 2026, covering worker pay, turnover, benefits, hours, and demographics. The Department of Community Health, working with the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, must compile this data into a public annual report for the advisory group, the General Assembly, and the Governor by March 1 each year. The law would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it.

• Creates the Georgia Interested Parties Advisory Group within the Department of Community Health, made up of 19 members appointed by the Governor by October 1, 2025.
• Requires the department to publish information about the advisory group, including its purpose, members, and meeting notices, on its website.
• Requires every HCBS provider agency (organizations providing Medicaid home care services) to submit detailed annual data on the direct care workers they employ, starting January 1, 2026.
• Requires financial support services providers, which process payments for home care workers, to submit similar annual worker data.
• Directs the Department of Community Health and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to compile this data into a public annual report by March 1 each year, covering wages, turnover, vacancies, and benefits.
• Requires the department to fully comply with federal home care worker reporting rules found in 42 C.F.R. Section 441.311.

The Department of Community Health and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, home and community based services provider agencies, financial support services providers that process home care worker payments, direct care workers themselves, and Georgians who receive Medicaid-funded home care services.

Georgians who rely on Medicaid home care, and the workers who provide it, would gain a formal advisory body and a yearly public accounting of wages, turnover, and benefits in the home care workforce, giving policymakers and the public new visibility into staffing shortages and pay in this sector.

• New Code Section 49-4-159.5(b)-(c) establishes the 19-member Georgia Interested Parties Advisory Group within the Department of Community Health, with a non-state-employee chairperson, appointed by October 1, 2025.
• Subsection (f) sets compensation rules: members get no pay but can receive expense reimbursement, with different allowances for legislative members, citizen members, and state employees.
• Subsection (g) requires the department to publish advisory group information, including membership and meeting notices, on its website.
• Subsections (h) and (i) require HCBS provider agencies and financial support services providers to report detailed annual worker data starting January 1, 2026, including wages, vacancies, turnover, benefits, and demographics.
• Subsection (j) requires an aggregated annual report to the advisory group, General Assembly, and Governor by March 1 each year, including response rates and wage statistics.
• Subsection (k) requires that report to be posted publicly on the department's website.
• Section 2 makes the law effective immediately upon the Governor's signature or becoming law without signature.

1. 2025-02-27Senate Read and Referred (Senado)
2. 2025-02-26Senate Hopper (Senado)

• Sonya Halpern (D, SD-039)Patrocinador principal
• Larry Walker (R, SD-020)
• Derek Mallow (D, SD-002)
• Nan Orrock (D, SD-036)
• Nikki Merritt (D, SD-009)
• Chuck Hufstetler (R, SD-052)

• Medicaid
• home care workers
• disability services
• state advisory boards
• health care data reporting