In State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2022, the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS), with approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), reinstated the request for applications for the use of Civil Monetary Penalties (CMP) after postponing the solicitation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ongoing projects funded in previous cycles that experienced interruptions due to COVID-19 resumed activities on an adjusted timeline. In addition, CMS again granted the states the ability to use CMP funds in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for special projects: In-Person Visitation Aids, Personal Fans, and Air Cleaners. This initiative helps ease the adverse effects of COVID-19 on the highly impacted individuals in nursing facilities (NFs).

From January through March 2021, the SFY 2022 application cycle began with soliciting projects from qualified applicants. DMAS received seventeen complete applications by the March 31, 2021 deadline. The applications were reviewed and forwarded to CMS for final funding determination for the SFY 2022 cycle.

On July 1, 2021, the CMP fund balance was $14,879,970, with appropriation to spend $2,535,000. During the year, NF penalty payments received totaled $921,449. Fund expenditures totaled $1,223,312. This resulted in the CMP fund having an end-of-year balance of $14,578,107.

Expenditures during the SFY include funds for newly approved projects, ongoing projects approved in previous cycles, and the CMS-approved COVID-19 initiative.