Money Follows The Person and the HCBS Quality Measure Set

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently issued guidance to Money Follows the Person (MFP) state grantees on requirements to report quality measures from the CMS home and community-based services (HCBS) quality measure set. Starting in 2026, these requirements will apply to all HCBS waivers that MFP grantee states operate (1915(c), 1915(i), 1915(j), 1915(k), and 1115 waivers).

While the subset of measures to be reported is still in development, CMS confirms that experience-of-care data from the HCBS Quality Measure Set will be included. The HCBS Quality Measure Set includes several National Core Indicators (NCI®) measures related to health, choice, access, person-centered planning, and more. These measures come from one or more of four approved surveys, including the National Core Indicators Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (NCI®-IDD) In-Person Survey and the National Core Indicators Aging and Disability (NCI-AD™) Adult Consumer Survey.

The NCI team—which includes expert personnel from National Association of State Directors of Developmental
Disabilities Services (NASDDDS), ADvancing States, and Human Services Research Institute (HSRI)— is well positioned to support states to meet MFP quality reporting requirements. The team is in regular communication with CMS and is following closely the anticipated quality requirements in the forthcoming HCBS Access Rule.

In this fact sheet you will find more information on NCI® as a solution for addressing CMS requirements.