(a) The Commissioner of Social Services shall administer the Connecticut home-care program for the elderly state-wide in order to prevent the institutionalization of elderly persons (1) who are recipients of medical assistance, (2) who are eligible for such assistance, (3) who would be eligible for medical assistance if residing in a nursing facility, or (4) who meet the criteria for the state-funded portion of the program under subsection (i) of this section. For purposes of this section, a long-term care facility is a facility that has been federally certified as a skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility. The commissioner shall make any revisions in the state Medicaid plan required by Title XIX of the Social Security Act prior to implementing the program. The program shall be structured so that the net cost to the state for long-term facility care in combination with the services under the program shall not exceed the net cost the state would have incurred without the program. The commissioner shall investigate the possibility of receiving federal funds for the program and shall apply for any necessary federal waivers. A recipient of services under the program, and the estate and legally liable relatives of the recipient, shall be responsible for reimbursement to the state for such services to the same extent required of a recipient of assistance under the state supplement program, medical assistance program, temporary family assistance program or supplemental nutrition assistance program. Only a United States citizen or a noncitizen who meets the citizenship requirements for eligibility under the Medicaid program shall be eligible for home-care services under this section, except a qualified alien, as defined in Section 431 of Public Law 104-193, admitted into the United States on or after August 22, 1996, or other lawfully residing immigrant alien determined eligible for services under this section prior to July 1, 1997, shall remain eligible for such services. Qualified aliens or other lawfully residing immigrant aliens not determined eligible prior to July 1, 1997, shall be eligible for services under this section subsequent to six months from establishing residency. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, any qualified alien or other lawfully residing immigrant alien or alien who formerly held the status of permanently residing under color of law who is a victim of domestic violence or who has intellectual disability shall be eligible for assistance pursuant to this section. Qualified aliens, as defined in Section 431 of Public Law 104-193, or other lawfully residing immigrant aliens or aliens who formerly held the status of permanently residing under color of law shall be eligible for services under this section provided other conditions of eligibility are met.

(b) The commissioner shall solicit bids through a competitive process and shall contract with an access agency, approved by the Office of Policy and Management and the Department of Social Services as meeting the requirements for such agency as defined by regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, that submits proposals which meet or exceed the minimum bid requirements. In addition to such contracts, the commissioner may use department staff to provide screening, coordination, assessment and monitoring functions for the program.

(c) The community-based services covered under the program shall include, but not be limited to, the following services to the extent that they are not available under the state Medicaid plan, occupational therapy, homemaker services, companion services, meals on wheels, adult day care, transportation, mental health counseling, care management, elderly foster care, minor home modifications and assisted living services provided in state-funded congregate housing and in other assisted living pilot or demonstration projects established under state law. Personal care assistance services shall be covered under the program to the extent that (1) such services are not available under the Medicaid state plan and are more cost effective on an individual client basis than existing services covered under such plan, and (2) the provision of such services is approved by the federal government. Recipients of state-funded services and persons who are determined to be functionally eligible for community-based services who have an application for medical assistance pending shall have the cost of home health and community-based services covered by the program, provided they comply with all medical assistance application requirements. Access agencies shall not use department funds to purchase community-based services or home health services from themselves or any related parties.

(d) Physicians, hospitals, long-term care facilities and other licensed health care facilities may disclose, and, as a condition of eligibility for the program, elderly persons, their guardians, and relatives shall disclose, upon request from the Department of Social Services, such financial, social and medical information as may be necessary to enable the department or any agency administering the program on behalf of the department to provide services under the program. Long-term care facilities shall supply the Department of Social Services with the names and addresses of all applicants for admission. Any information provided pursuant to this subsection shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed by the department or administering agency.

(e) The commissioner shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to define “access agency”, to implement and administer the program, to establish uniform state-wide standards for the program and a uniform assessment tool for use in the screening process and to specify conditions of eligibility.

(f) The commissioner may require long-term care facilities to inform applicants for admission of the program established under this section and to distribute such forms as the commissioner prescribes for the program. Such forms shall be supplied by and be returnable to the department.

(g) The commissioner shall report annually, by June first, to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to human services on the program in such detail, depth and scope as said committee requires to evaluate the effect of the program on the state and program participants. Such report shall include information on (1) the number of persons diverted from placement in a long-term care facility as a result of the program, (2) the number of persons screened, (3) the average cost per person in the program, (4) the administration costs, (5) the estimated savings, and (6) a comparison between costs under the different contracts.

(h) An individual who is otherwise eligible for services pursuant to this section shall, as a condition of participation in the program, apply for medical assistance benefits pursuant to § 17b-260 when requested to do so by the department and shall accept such benefits if determined eligible.

(i) (1) The Commissioner of Social Services shall, within available appropriations, administer a state-funded portion of the program for persons (A) who are sixty-five years of age and older; (B) who are inappropriately institutionalized or at risk of inappropriate institutionalization; (C) whose income is less than or equal to the amount allowed under subdivision (3) of subsection (a) of this section; and (D) whose assets, if single, do not exceed one hundred fifty per cent of the federal minimum community spouse protected amount pursuant to 42 USC 1396r-5(f)(2) or, if married, the couple’s assets do not exceed two hundred per cent of said community spouse protected amount. For program applications received by the Department of Social Services for the fiscal years ending June 30, 2016, and June 30, 2017, only persons who require the level of care provided in a nursing home shall be eligible for the state-funded portion of the program, except for persons residing in affordable housing under the assisted living demonstration project established pursuant to § 17b-347e who are otherwise eligible in accordance with this section.

(2) Except for persons residing in affordable housing under the assisted living demonstration project established pursuant to § 17b-347e, as provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, any person whose income is at or below two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level and who is ineligible for Medicaid shall contribute three per cent of the cost of his or her care. Any person whose income exceeds two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level shall contribute three per cent of the cost of his or her care in addition to the amount of applied income determined in accordance with the methodology established by the Department of Social Services for recipients of medical assistance. Any person who does not contribute to the cost of care in accordance with this subdivision shall be ineligible to receive services under this subsection. Notwithstanding any provision of sections 17b-60 and 17b-61, the department shall not be required to provide an administrative hearing to a person found ineligible for services under this subsection because of a failure to contribute to the cost of care.

(3) Any person who resides in affordable housing under the assisted living demonstration project established pursuant to § 17b-347e and whose income is at or below two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level, shall not be required to contribute to the cost of care. Any person who resides in affordable housing under the assisted living demonstration project established pursuant to § 17b-347e and whose income exceeds two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level, shall contribute to the applied income amount determined in accordance with the methodology established by the Department of Social Services for recipients of medical assistance. Any person whose income exceeds two hundred per cent of the federal poverty level and who does not contribute to the cost of care in accordance with this subdivision shall be ineligible to receive services under this subsection. Notwithstanding any provision of sections 17b-60 and 17b-61, the department shall not be required to provide an administrative hearing to a person found ineligible for services under this subsection because of a failure to contribute to the cost of care.

(4) The annualized cost of services provided to an individual under the state-funded portion of the program shall not exceed fifty per cent of the weighted average cost of care in nursing homes in the state, except an individual who received services costing in excess of such amount under the Department of Social Services in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1992, may continue to receive such services, provided the annualized cost of such services does not exceed eighty per cent of the weighted average cost of such nursing home care. The commissioner may allow the cost of services provided to an individual to exceed the maximum cost established pursuant to this subdivision in a case of extreme hardship, as determined by the commissioner, provided in no case shall such cost exceed that of the weighted cost of such nursing home care.

(j) The Commissioner of Social Services shall collect data on services provided under the program, including, but not limited to, the: (1) Number of participants before and after copayments are reduced pursuant to subsection (i) of this section, (2) average hours of care provided under the program per participant, and (3) estimated cost savings to the state by providing home care to participants who may otherwise receive care in a nursing home facility. The commissioner shall, in accordance with the provisions of § 11-4a, report on the results of the data collection to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to aging, appropriations and the budgets of state agencies and human services not later than July 1, 2022. The commissioner may implement revised criteria for the operation of the program while in the process of adopting such criteria in regulation form, provided the commissioner publishes notice of intention to adopt the regulations in accordance with § 17b-10. Such criteria shall be valid until the time final regulations are effective.

(k) The commissioner shall notify any access agency or area agency on aging that administers the program when the department sends a redetermination of eligibility form to an individual who is a client of such agency.

(l) In determining eligibility for the program described in this section, the commissioner shall not consider as income (1) Aid and Attendance pension benefits granted to a veteran, as defined in § 27-103, or the surviving spouse of such veteran, and (2) any tax refund or advance payment with respect to a refundable credit to the same extent such refund or advance payment would be disregarded under 26 USC 6409 in any federal program or state or local program financed in whole or in part with federal funds.