Waiver slot cap

Definition

The headcount a state's waiver is approved for, which caps enrollment above the seats.

Why It Matters

The census term reads capacity off the building and this is the other ceiling. A state running a home and community waiver must name the number of people it intends to serve in each year of the program. That number is a limit on the size of the waiver unless the state asks for a bigger one and is granted it. So a center can hold a licensed seat and still have nowhere to put a funded participant. Two consequences for a buyer. A waitlist is not demand the state has agreed to pay for, so paying for one is paying for a queue somebody else controls. And the ceiling and the rate live in the same expiring document: a waiver runs on a term and a change in rate methodology is a substantive amendment, so both numbers are readable before closing. The agency can also freeze enrollment across a whole state at once.