Providing solutions for Child Welfare Payment System Challenges

HB 5636 Text

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House Bill 5636 History

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WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2026
REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
House Bill 5636
By Delegate Toney
[Introduced February 17, 2026; referred to the Committee on Finance]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding a new article, designated §49-13-1, §49-13-2, and §49-13-3, relating to ensuring prompt payment through the Child Welfare Payment System for socially necessary service providers contracted to provide services through contracts with the state, requiring updates to known problems in the PATH reporting system and implementing a better payment system, requiring meetings with providers and the Department of Human Services' finance department, and requiring prompt payment and prompt reconciliation for billing.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

article 13. child welfare payment system upgrades.

§49-13-1. Legislative findings.

The Legislature finds that the implications of the various state system and financial accounting failures have reached a critical status:
(1) Providers have reported having to dip into lines of credit, costing their agencies significant interest.
(2) Providers have reported that financial institutions have informed providers that lines of credit will be reduced as a result of unsteady cashflow.
(3) Providers report they are unable to invest in any expansion of any of the critically needed youth services the state desperately needs due to the impact payment issues are having on capital.
(4) Despite extensive demand for critical services to children, providers report they are operating at bare minimum capacity.
(5) Providers are dropping out of service lines and closing programs entirely because they cannot afford to float the money waiting on the state to reimburse for services.
(6) Providers report that they are unable to take on new service lines in areas with critical shortages because of persistent payment and regulatory barriers.
(7) Providers have expressed that staff have had to go without needed retention bonuses and pay raises and that payrolls have been delayed.
(8) Providers have reported that children that could be served in their communities are being forced into less than ideal placements like hotels because providers do not have the financial foundation to build out services.
(9) There have been delayed payments intended to support foster children in the state’s care.

§49-13-2. System-wide payment.

The Department of Human Services must implement the following changes by July 1, 2027:
(1) Decouple payments from worker triggers

and remove the dependency on individual Child Protective Services/Youth Services worker system entries to trigger payment.
(2) Implement invoice-based payments and transition to a standardized, invoice-based payment system for services rendered.
(3) Mandate timely reconciliation and establish a formal annual reconciliation process that must be completed within six months, following the end of the fiscal year.
(4) Create a dedicated payment resolution process by designating a specific, high-level contact within the department finance unit and a clear, documented process for providers to escalate and resolve payment issues efficiently.
(5) Hold regular finance meetings and institute regular monthly meetings between provider representatives and the department finance unit to proactively review payment trends, address emerging issues, and improve communication.

§49-13-3. Specific service line payments.

(a) Allow child placement agency provider updates to foster family status and grant child placement agencies secure, time limited access to the State PATH system for the sole purpose of updating foster family status, including openings and certifications in order to improve data accuracy and ensure payments reflect real-time capacity.
(b) Address residential transitional living payment fixes and correct the known Systemic Coding Errors within the PATH system that improperly codes and reimburses transitional living services, ensuring accurate payment rates for this service line.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to improve the payment systems of Department of Human Services to ensure prompt payment through the Child Welfare Payment System for socially necessary service providers contracted to provide services through contracts with the state.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.

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