Senate Bill 2329: Reconstitute Early Intervention Task Force

February 22, 2024March 20, 2024 Bill Tracker

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On March 13,  SB 2329 was recommitted to committee and died in committee.

Explanation of the Bill

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Background

Though Senate Bill 2329 died after being recommitted to the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on March 13, a version of the bill was revived on March 14 with an amendment to Senate Bill 2727. Senate Bill 2727 creates the Mississippi Youth Mental Health Task Force and now the Early Intervention Task Force. 

The updated Early Intervention Task Force will maintain its new role to advise the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH), but the bill no longer amends Section 41-87-9 to require MSDH to prepare and deliver a plan for service delivery by December 1, 2024.

Reconstituted Task Force

Senate Bill 2329 would reconstitute the 2023 Early Intervention Task Force with a notable shift in the role of the task force. The purpose of the task force is listed as serving in an advisory capacity to MSDH to assist the agency in implementing a new service delivery model for First Steps (Part C of IDEA). However, in the next sentence, the bill states the goal of the task force is simply to collaborate with MSDH to “design a new service delivery model and make changes to the Early Intervention Program [emphasis added].” Later, the bill also states the committee will be dissolved after providing recommendations, so it is unclear how it would then also assist MSDH in implementation. 

The new task force will add two key members, the Executive Director of the Division of Medicaid or their designee, and the Executive Director of the Office of Early Childhood at the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) or their designee.

The scope of work for the new task force is as follows:

• Review the billing and reimbursement processes and rates and provide the legislature with a recommendation by January 1, 2025;
• Evaluate early intervention service delivery models, including a hub or hybrid model that involves university participation and provide a recommendation to the legislature about a more effective service delivery model; and
• Develop and report its findings and recommendations for legislation in response to MSDH’s proposal to change the service delivery model and billing and reimbursement processes.

Since the report by the task force must respond to MSDH’s proposal (see below), and the task force must also collaborate with MSDH on this scope of work, the exact timing and process is somewhat unclear.

Requirements of an Early Intervention System

Senate Bill 2329 will amend Section 41-87-9 to require MSDH to prepare and deliver a plan for service delivery by December 1, 2024, that

• Recommends to the legislature a more efficient system for compensating providers and for billing and collecting from third-party payors;
• Recommends a service delivery model which includes a hub or hybrid service delivery model that includes university participation;
• Evaluates how a new service delivery model could impact the training of students and delivery of service to children;
• Requires MSDH to collaborate with the reconstituted Early Intervention Task Force to develop these recommendations.

This amendment will be repealed on December 1, 2024.