Aging/Older Adults

The Advancing Health Equity Learning Collaborative is seeking applicants for the next cohort of the collaborative, which will include five teams comprised of Medicaid agencies, managed care organizations, and health care provider organizations or systems. The learning collaborative will help teams develop shared equity priorities, uncover the drivers of disparities in their member populations, and create payment models to support equity-focused care transformation.

On July 19, 2022 MedPAC released its July 2022 Data Book on Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program. This publication provides data on Medicare spending, demographics of the Medicare population, beneficiaries’ access to care, and Medicare program quality. Section 4 (pages 31-38) covers dually eligible individuals and includes information on the percentage of Medicare spending for this population, demographic data, health status, and service use. Within this section, states may be specifically interested in Chart 4-4: Demographic differences between dual-eligible beneficiaries and non-dual-eligible beneficiaries, 2019.

Late yesterday CMS released a State Medicaid Director Letter (SMDL 22-003) providing guidance for the first-ever HCBS Quality Measure Set, the first of two planned guidance documents from CMS. The HCBS Quality Measure Set is included in the SMD, starting on page 14. The list of measures includes the NQF number (if applicable), measure steward, and data collection method, as well as information on whether each measure addresses section 1915(c) waiver assurances and/or can be used to assess access, LTSS rebalancing, and/or community integration and HCBS settings requirements.

This KFF issue brief describes the anticipated enrollment changes in pathways based on old age or disability (“non-MAGI”) after the Public Health Emergency (PHE) ends, state enrollment and renewal policies for non-MAGI groups as of January 1, 2022, and state plans for resuming normal operations when the PHE ends.

This series of three AARP Public Policy Institute and Mathematica Spotlight reports analyze SNAP participation among older adults and the policies that affect it.

This Better Care Playbook profile of the SASH model is part of an ongoing series, In the Field: Spotlight on Complex Care Interventions, that is highlighting how organizations are implementing evidence-based and promising innovations to improve care for people with complex health and social needs.

When states use a Medicaid managed care delivery system, the contracted managed care organizations (MCOs) generally determine provider payment rates. However, in certain circumstances states may direct payments to providers through the MCOs in accordance with state-set criteria. In this report, GAO describes (1) the use of state directed payments in Medicaid, and (2) CMS's changes to guidance and oversight of these payments.

This fact sheet from the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center, Residents’ Rights and the LGBTQ+ Community: Know Your Rights as a Nursing Home Resident, highlights federal residents' rights and nursing home requirements pertaining to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ+) residents. The factsheet also provides options for complaint resolution, information for reporting abuse and resources regarding long-term care and LGBTQ+ advocacy.

Patient and staff-reported measures are a key way to assess the quality and experience of care for people with complex needs. CHCS worked with health care organizations to test new measures for understanding patient and staff experiences related to well-being, equity, goals of care, and care integration. This brief explores insights from the Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family at Boston Medical Center, Hill Country Community Clinic, and Denver Health, which used these measures to assess quality within their organizations.

On Monday, June 27, 2022 the Biden Administration announced a new model aimed at improving cancer care for Medicare patients and lowering health care costs. CMS’ Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation designed the Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM) to test how to improve health care providers’ ability to deliver patient-centered care and consider patients’ unique needs. The model will focus on supporting patients, caregivers, and survivors, while addressing inequities and providing patients with treatments that address their individual needs.