Directs the Oregon Health Authority and the Department of Human Services to disregard parental income when determining a child's eligibility for medical assistance if the child has a physical disability or chronic illness that requires a hospital or nursing home level of care.

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83rd OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2025 Regular Session
A-Engrossed
Senate Bill 909
Ordered by the Senate April 18
Including Senate Amendments dated April 18
Sponsored by Senators GELSER BLOUIN, PATTERSON
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject
to consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor’s brief statement of the essential features of the
measure. The statement includes a measure digest written in compliance with applicable readability standards.
Digest: The Act expands services for children with complex needs. (Flesch Readability Score:
75.5).
[Directs the Oregon Health Authority to provide flexible and innovative home and community-based
services and supports through the medical assistance program to children and youth that have a seri-
ous emotional disturbance. ] Directs the Oregon Health Authority and the Department of Human
Services to disregard parental income when determining a child’s eligibility for medical assistance
if the child has a physical disability or chronic illness that requires a hospital or nursing home level
of care [ or the child meets the level of care criteria for admission to a facility providing psychiatric
services to individuals under 21 years of age. Directs the authority or the department to notify the
parents of a child found eligible for medical assistance based on a disregard of parental income that
the disregard constitutes parental consent for an education provider to be notified that the child re-
ceives medical assistance and to bill for the cost of school-based health services ]. Directs the au-
thority to prescribe the level of care criteria for admission to a facility providing psychiatric
services to individuals under 21 years of age. Provides that individuals who meet those cri-
teria are eligible for medical assistance. Directs the authority to seek any necessary federal ap-
proval. Becomes operative on the date that notice of federal approval is received.
Declares an emergency, effective on passage.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to children with complex needs; creating new provisions; amending ORS 417.345; and de-
claring an emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
SECTION 1.
In determining eligibility for medical assistance, as defined in ORS 414.025,
for an individual who is under 18 years of age and has a physical disability or chronic illness
that requires a hospital or nursing home level of care, the Oregon Health Authority and the
Department of Human Services shall disregard the income of the individual’s parents and
consider only the income of the individual.
SECTION 2. (1) The Oregon Health Authority shall:
(a) Prescribe by rule the level of care criteria for admission to a facility providing psy-
chiatric services to individuals under 21 years of age;
(b) Adopt an assessment tool or functional needs assessment to determine whether an
individual meets the level of care criteria prescribed under this subsection; and
(c) Adopt an assessment tool or functional needs assessment to establish the level of
services necessary to support an individual who meets the level of care criteria prescribed
under this subsection to be successful outside of an institutional setting.
(2) An individual who meets the level of care criteria prescribed under subsection (1) of
this section is eligible for medical assistance, as defined in ORS 414.025, if home and
NOTE: Matter in boldfaced type in an amended section is new; matter [ italic and bracketed] is existing law to be omitted.
New sections are in boldfaced type.
LC 2750
A-Eng. SB 909
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community-based services are necessary to prevent the individual from being placed in an
institutional setting.
(3) An individual who has been determined to meet the level of care criteria prescribed
under subsection (1) of this section shall continue to meet the criteria if:
(a) The provision of home and community-based services stabilized the individual and
removal of the home and community-based services is likely to put the individual at risk of
placement in an institutional setting; or
(b) The individual has been discharged from an institutional setting and requires home
and community-based services to prevent the risk of returning to an institutional setting.
SECTION 3.
ORS 417.345 is amended to read:
417.345. (1) The Medically Involved Home-Care Program is created in the Department of Human
Services. The department shall provide all State Plan Medicaid and waivered services available un-
der state and federal law that are necessary to enable a medically involved child to be cared for in
the child’s home. The waivered services that must be available include but are not limited to home
nursing care, durable medical equipment and respite care.
(2) The department shall adopt by rule criteria for determining the need for and extent of as-
sistance to be provided to a medically involved child enrolled in the Medically Involved Home-Care
Program [ created by subsection (1) of this section ]. The criteria shall include, but are not limited to,
consideration of:
(a) The medical needs of the child;
(b) The needs of any other family member with a disability or chronic illness in the child’s home;
(c) Family and community support available to the child and family caregivers; and
(d) The assistance necessary for the family to care for the child in the child’s home, disregarding
parental or legal guardian income.
(3) [Subject to limits on enrollment required by state or federal law, ] Services offered through the
Medically Involved Home-Care Program shall be made available to children meeting the criteria
established by the department by rule. Priority for enrollment shall be given to:
(a) A child transferring to the child’s home from nursing home placement, foster care placement
or other out-of-home placement;
(b) A child living at home who is at risk of nursing home placement, foster care placement or
other out-of-home placement;
(c) A child who does not otherwise qualify for medical assistance under ORS chapter 414 and
for whom the department pays family support payments pursuant to ORS 430.215 that exceed $10,000
per year; and
(d) A child who is at risk of losing eligibility for medical assistance under ORS chapter 414 due
to a caregiver’s employment or an increase in a caregiver’s earnings.
[(4) The department shall enroll no fewer than 125 medically involved children in the Medically
Involved Home-Care Program beginning January 1, 2008. The department shall enroll an additional
25 medically involved children each calendar year thereafter, to the maximum number allowed by fed-
eral law or under the terms of the federal approval. ]
[(5)] (4) Moneys appropriated to the department for the Medically Involved Home-Care Program
may not be used to supplant moneys appropriated to the department for the Children’s Intensive
In-Home Services program.
[(6)] (5) As used in this section, “child” means a person under 18 years of age.
SECTION 4.
(1) No later than January 1, 2026, the Oregon Health Authority shall seek
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A-Eng. SB 909
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any waiver or other necessary approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
to carry out the provisions of sections 1 and 2 of this 2025 Act.
(2) The authority shall notify the Legislative Counsel immediately upon receipt of the
approval or denial of each request under subsection (1) of this section.
SECTION 5.
(1) Sections 1 and 2 of this 2025 Act become operative on the date on which
the Legislative Counsel receives notice of the federal approval as provided under section 4
of this 2025 Act.
(2) The Oregon Health Authority and the Department of Human Services may take any
action before the operative date specified in subsection (1) of this section that is necessary
for the authority and the department to exercise, on and after the operative date specified
in subsection (1) of this section, all of the powers, duties and functions conferred on the
authority and the department under sections 1 and 2 of this 2025 Act.
SECTION 6.
This 2025 Act being necessary for the immediate preservation of the public
peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared to exist, and this 2025 Act takes effect
on its passage.
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