Indiana will institute a six-month moratorium on new waivers for home and community health providers for Medicaid.

The moratorium is set to take effect on August 1, and will impact services including attendant family care, home and community assistance and music therapy.

"This really is part of our efforts to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse," said Kelly Mitchell, the director of the Division of Disability, Aging, and Rehabilitative Services within the Family and Social Services Administration.

Mitchell points to the recent announcement that the state found $200 million in improper payments. Errors showed providers were missing background checks and hadn't completed service plans, among other issues.

Democrats have pushed back on those claims.

Mitchell said the state intends to audit and review providers currently operating and decided not to bring on new providers in the meantime.

"In order for us to really lean in on improving our ability to monitor quality and to ensure program intake integrity, we have identified the necessity to place this pause," she said.

Kim Dodson is the CEO of the ARC of Indiana, a disability advocacy group. She said they support a moratorium so the state can ensure accountability and auditing of current providers.

"We want to make sure that again, our Medicaid service system is attracting high-quality providers that are going to stay current with best practices, stay current with federal and state regulations," she said.

According to Dodson, there are an estimated 3,000 providers in the space, which has created problems for state oversight.

"I think shrinking that pool and making sure that those who are allowed to provide services to our most vulnerable populations are high quality," she said. " I hope that this moratorium moves us in that direction."

One problem, according to Dodson, is that while there is a high volume of provider entities, it's not clear if there are enough individual workers at those agencies.

"Within the home and community-based services field, we do have a large number of provider agencies, but we still have a shortage of provider workers," she said.

It's not clear how the moratorium will solve that particular problem, but state officials say the audits will give them a clearer picture of how many workers there are in the space.

The moratorium lasts six months but the state could extend it. Providers may also request an exception.

Contact Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org

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