State Medicaid Updates: EVV and HCBS Changes Heading Into 2027
November 6, 2026
2026 Medicaid EVV & HCBS Updates | eCaring

State guidance reviewed November 4, 2026.
State Medicaid changes in 2026 are affecting how home care agencies capture visits, transmit electronic visit verification (EVV) data, calculate billable units, and submit claims. Some programs have introduced payment edits. Others have expanded aggregation requirements or established standards for visits recorded without manual corrections.
For agencies delivering home and community-based services (HCBS), the practical response is to review requirements by state, program, payer, and service. A completed visit, an accepted EVV record, a matching claim, and a paid claim are different milestones.
The following updates focus on personal care and other HCBS workflows, with related home health requirements included where they share the same policy.
Ohio: Claims validation expanded across waiver programs
Ohio’s phased EVV claims validation reached Ohio Home Care and PASSPORT waiver services on January 1, 2026. Claims requiring EVV must have complete, matching visit data or they will be denied. The state’s implementation schedule also placed the MyCare phase on March 1, covering applicable waiver and other EVV services.
Ohio introduced another important requirement for alternate EVV submissions: manually edited visits with dates of service on or after April 1, 2026, must include Edit Reason Code 99. The state says visits submitted with another edit reason code will be rejected by Sandata.
Agency action: Check both claim matching and transmission results. A corrected visit needs to reach the aggregator successfully before it can support billing. Review payer mappings when coverage changes, too.
Sources: Ohio’s January EVV newsletter and claims validation schedule.
Indiana: Exemption coding must agree with the service setting
For dates of service on or after October 28, 2026, Indiana denies claim details for T2033, S5151, and T2016 when billed with both modifier HQ and place of service 12, Home.
Indiana uses HQ for applicable services delivered in a 24-hour congregate or group setting, indicating that EVV is not required. Pairing that modifier with Home creates an inconsistent billing combination.
Agency action: Review the affected service configurations and claims. Select modifiers and place-of-service codes that accurately describe the care delivered; an exemption designation must be supported by the actual setting.
Source: Indiana bulletin BT2026155.
Michigan: Manual edits are now a measurable compliance issue
Michigan’s MMP 26-10 took effect April 1, 2026, establishing EVV compliance enforcement for agency providers, including fiscal intermediaries and financial management services providers, across affected fee-for-service and managed care programs.
The standard is 85% of verified EVV visits without manual edits each quarter, measured separately for each payer. Providers falling below the threshold may face corrective action, including training or a compliance plan. The policy does not apply to Home Help individual providers.
Agency action: Review manual-edit patterns throughout the quarter. Identify missing clock-ins, clock-outs, or location information early, and use the findings to guide caregiver support and training. A corrected visit can still affect the manual-edit metric.
Source: Michigan bulletin MMP 26-10.
Illinois: Aggregation expanded to aging and rehabilitation programs
Illinois set March 2, 2026, as the implementation date for integrating personal care and home health EVV data from Department on Aging and Division of Rehabilitation Services providers into HHAeXchange. The rollout includes agency-based Community Care Program and Home Services Program providers.
Illinois allows qualified alternate EVV systems, but the visit information must still reach HHAeXchange.
Agency action: Confirm that visits for the affected programs are being transmitted successfully through the required connection. Recording a visit in the agency’s own system does not establish that the state aggregator received it. This aggregation rollout should not be confused with a universal claims-denial start date.
Source: Illinois HFS EVV implementation guidance.
Texas: Exact unit matching now applies to specified respite services
Texas enabled EVV claim-unit matching for in-home respite services in the Community Living Assistance and Support Services (CLASS) and Deaf Blind with Multiple Disabilities (DBMD) programs effective October 30, 2026.
Previously, these claims required a matching accepted EVV visit, but the units did not have to match. Claims for dates of service October 30 onward now require an exact EVV visit-unit match for the specified services; mismatches deny with result code EVV06.
Agency action: Compare the units calculated for billing with the units available in EVV. Confirm the applicable unit and rounding methodology for these services rather than applying one calculation across every payer.
Source: Texas Medicaid’s November 3 unit-matching notice.
Virginia: Live-in caregivers must use EVV
Virginia ended its live-in caregiver EVV exemption effective October 1, 2026. The requirement applies to agency-directed aides and consumer-directed attendants providing personal care or assistance, respite, and companion services.
Agency action: Identify caregivers who previously relied on the exemption and confirm they have access to the appropriate EVV method and training. For consumer-directed services, Virginia specifically identifies the fiscal-employer agent’s mobile application or interactive voice response system as compliant methods; its web portal is not an approved substitute.
Source: Virginia’s live-in requirement bulletin.
Upcoming changes: Rates in December and claims edits in February
South Carolina — December 1, 2026: Specified personal care reimbursement increases from $25 to $26 per hour, alongside other listed state plan and HCBS waiver rate increases. Agencies should update applicable rates by date of service. Earlier services remain subject to the rates in effect when they were delivered.
Source: South Carolina bulletin 26-044.
Nevada — February 1, 2027: A November 3 notice announces that listed EVV mismatch errors will change from informational messages to denials. The notice covers specified personal care, HCBS waiver, structured family caregiving, and home health provider types, including those using alternate EVV systems.
Agencies can use current remittance warnings to investigate unmatched units or visits, identifier differences, procedure-code or service-date mismatches, and duplicate visits before the deadline.
Source: Nevada Web Announcement 4051.
Ohio — implementation guidance to monitor: Senate Bill 315 added statutory EVV requirements effective October 6, 2026, including validated records supporting payment and requirements for implementing rules and phased schedules. Agencies should follow subsequent state guidance for operational dates, procedures, and exemptions rather than treating the statute’s effective date as the go-live date for every system change.
Source: Ohio Revised Code 5164.42.
Billing calculations need to match the program
The Texas update highlights a question every agency should ask: does the billing system calculate units the way the applicable EVV program expects?
Consider a hypothetical 67-minute visit billed in 15-minute units. Dividing by 15 produces approximately 4.47 units, but that arithmetic alone does not establish the payable quantity. The program’s rules determine how partial units are handled. Agencies should confirm whether calculations apply to each visit, a service day, or another defined grouping.
eCaring supports flexible billing unit configurations and payer- and service-specific billing rules. Agencies can align their billing calculations with the EVV requirements of the programs they serve, making it simpler to manage differences across services and payers.
That flexibility supports a connected workflow from visit documentation through billing. It does not replace checking the current program rules or confirming that the EVV record was accepted. A successful match also does not guarantee payment: eligibility, authorization, coverage, and other claim requirements still apply.
A practical readiness checklist for home care agencies
- Identify the affected services. Record the state, program, payer, service code, modifiers, and effective date for each change.
- Review calculation settings. Check billing-unit duration, partial-unit treatment, rounding, and any required grouping against current program guidance.
- Check coding and exemptions. Confirm that service settings, modifiers, and exemption designations agree with the care actually delivered.
- Reconcile before submitting claims. Verify required identifiers, dates, service codes, units, and aggregator status. Confirm corrected records were transmitted successfully.
- Monitor compliance separately. Track manual-edit measures and other program thresholds alongside claim-matching results.
- Assign ownership. Give operations, billing, and the EVV integration team clear responsibility for investigating exceptions and checking upcoming notices.
For more background on the relationship between EVV and reimbursement, read Medicaid’s New Payment Reality.
eCaring connects EVV and billing within the agency’s visit workflow. Schedule a demo to discuss your payer and service requirements and see how flexible billing configurations can support your agency.
Requirements vary by state, program, payer, and service. Confirm current guidance and applicable contracts before changing billing practices.











