DSD eList announcement

Date: May 12, 2026
To: Lead agency staff, family residential services (FRS) providers and other interested parties
From: DHS Disability Services Division
Purpose: To provide an update about FRS and life sharing under the disability waivers and rate implications in MnCHOICES
Effective: Immediately
Contact: DSD Contact Form

FRS tiered rate updates

The payment structure of FRS (S5140) must change from a framework rate to a tiered rate based on a person’s most recent MnCHOICES assessment case mix to comply with Minn. Stat. §256B.4914, subd. 19. FRS with a renewal or new service start date on or after April 1, 2026, will use the new tiered rate.

For more information on FRS tiered rates, go to RMS Manual – FRS: DWRS tiered-rate service.

Life sharing

DHS paused the life sharing service model under FRS as part of its two-year moratorium on new licenses and removed it from the 2025 waiver amendment plan. However, a person already authorized for life sharing services (S5140 UC U2) will stay authorized for the service until their next waiver renewal or change in service. Providers must use the current guidance for life sharing services on CBSM – Resource: Life sharing matching process and ongoing support options.

Authorizations in MnCHOICES

Effective immediately, lead agencies must not authorize life sharing for service start dates on or after April 1, 2026. Starting April 1, MnCHOICES should have only allowed a lead agency to authorize FRS (S5140) at the tiered rate. However, a user can still search for the life sharing service (S5140 UC U2), which is paused, and add it to a support plan.

DHS is working to update MnCHOICES to make the life sharing service model (S5140 UC U2) unavailable for a person whose service start date is on or after April 1.

Rate updates

A lead agency must manually update a person’s rate in MnCHOICES and the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) if they did both of the following:

· Calculated a rate in the MnCHOICES application that included life sharing (S5140 UC U2) starting on or after April 1, 2026.

· Authorized the incorrect rate in MMIS.

DHS generated a report of affected service lines and included it in an email with the rate remediation plan to lead agency rates mentors during the week of April 27, 2026.

To correct the life sharing rate error, the lead agency must:

1. On May 31, 2026, end life sharing services (S5140 UC U2) that started on or after April 1, 2026.

2. Add FRS (S5140) with a start date on or after June 1, 2026.

3. Start claim voids for life sharing units billed from April 1 to May 31, 2026.

4. Once claim voids are completed, reauthorize S5140 units in MMIS at the FRS tiered rate recalculated in MnCHOICES that end May 31, 2026.

DHS will continue working with life sharing coalition partners as future waiver plan amendments are prepared for Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services approval. For more information, go to CBSM – Resource: Life sharing matching process and ongoing support options.

Previous eList announcements

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