Medicaid

This report reviews federal health and housing policies, noting the barriers created that seniors with clinically-driven housing insecurity must navigate. It also reviews a series of initiatives that ACAP members are undertaking to address housing as a social determinant for this vulnerable population, with examples from California, Ohio, and North Carolina.

This letter from CMS is about how they will offer additional flexibilities to help states improve access to and quality of substance use disorder treatment through Medicaid 1115 demonstrations. CMS’s main goal is to support state initiatives to improve access to treatment by requiring less upfront administrative process barriers for approvals of state initiatives to improve access to treatment by requiring less upfront administrative process barriers for approvals of state initiatives.

This fact sheet outlines strategies to help Medicaid stakeholders encourage partnerships between community-based organizations and health care organizations. States can provide: (1) financial support to build and sustain program capacity; (2) assistance in identifying metrics for evaluation; (3) incentives to providers to address social determinants of health; and (4) use of policy levers, including value-based contracts, managed care organization regulations, and state plan amendments.

This brief from the SCAN Foundation summarizes lessons learned and offers recommendations for improving integrated systems of care for people with Medicare and Medicaid, also known as dually eligible individuals. The brief draws from three years of California’s Cal MediConnect evaluation results.

Many adults enrolled in Medicaid lack adequate dental care coverage. Oregon uses Medicaid coordinated care organizations to offer integrated physical, mental health, and now oral care. A new NASHP report, supported by the DentaQuest Foundation, examines Oregon’s innovative payment and financing structures, incentive measures, and key partnerships that were important to building this model. This report is helpful for policymakers considering integrating dental in Medicaid reform.

This brief from the Integrated Care Resource Center discusses opportunities for Medicaid agencies to partner with State Health Insurance Programs (SHIPs). Every state has a SHIP that is responsible for providing counseling and assistance for people with Medicare and their families. This brief highlights approaches used by Arizona, Massachusetts, and Texas, where SHIPs and Medicaid agencies have worked together to educate Medicare-Medicaid enrollees on new care delivery options.

Value-Based Payment (VBP) are alternative payment models that reward high-quality, cost-effective care. While many Medicaid state programs are developing VBP systems for physical health services, they have not made such advances in Medicaid behavioral health care services. The Center for Health Care Strategies’ (CHCS) brief, produced with the California Health Care Foundation, details how five states are innovating their Medicaid managed care organizations through VBP models.

This report provides a multidimensional look at state performance for the delivery of long-term services and supports (LTSS), based on a uniform set of performance measures and how performance has changed over time. It also includes the role that housing and transportation play in assisting older adults, people with physical disabilities and their family caregivers, as well as promising practices and emerging innovations to foster greater information exchange.

This is the annual report that records the accomplishments made for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 2016.

This new brief, made possible by The Commonwealth Fund and The SCAN Foundation, highlights insights from states that are fine-tuning their integrated care programs. Formal evaluations of some integrated care programs are underway; however, until these results become available, the refinements made by states described in the brief -- all participants in the Implementing New Systems of Integration for Dually Eligible Enrollees (INSIDE) project.