Affordable Care Act (ACA)

This brief describes key features of Georgia’s MFP program & highlights recent experiences. Through MFP, Georgia has achieved a 2 percent growth in annual spending on home & community-based services. With the extension of MFP under the ACA, the state plans to continue the program through 2016 with hopes to transition more than 2,000 individuals with the help of over $93 million in enhanced federal matching funds. Also, review brief profiles on several Georgia residents enrolled in the program.

This policy brief provides information on Washington, DC and the 37 states that are planning to better integrate care for participants who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. The Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) will allow states to select a capitated model, or a managed fee-for-service model, or they can use both models. Included is a chart explaining the main differences between the two models.

Developing home & community-based service (HCBS) alternatives to institutional care has been a priority for many state Medicaid programs over the last three decades. While the majority of Medicaid long-term care dollars still go toward institutional care, the national percentage of Medicaid spending on HCBS has more than doubled from 19% in 1995 to 43% in 2008. More than 3 million people were served by Medicaid HCBS programs in 2008 and hundreds of thousands of people are on waiting lists.

A new technical assistance brief from the Center for Health Care Strategies provides a brief outline of the Money Follows the Person, Balanced Incentives Payment Program, the Community First Choice Option, and the modified Home and Community-Based State Plan option. For each program, the authors outline the budget impact/FMAP opportunity, application process, participant eligibility, care coordination/plans, and data reporting/evaluation.

Examine new state-by-state estimates of public and private health spending from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), published in the online journal, Medicare and Medicaid Research Review. Also available, a webcast with an expert panel offering perspectives on the trends within and across states, as well as the outlook for policy efforts to control costs, including provisions of the Affordable Care Act and various state initiatives.

This site is a one stop resource to help expand integrated supportive housing approaches for people with disabilities. It highlights innovative new options within the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program, & provides information & resources targeted to states & other supportive housing stakeholders as they face new challenges & opportunities for ensuring community living for non elderly people with disabilities.

This paper provides recommendations on changes to improve delivery of the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program so that it can more fully serve the purposes for which the program was established. It is the last in a series of four papers that highlight pressing issues facing dual eligibles and provide recommendations to the federal Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office (MMCO), state Medicaid agencies and other interested policymakers and stakeholders on how to address them.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, along with Mission Analytics Group & Human Services Research Institute, created an implementation manual for the Balancing Incentive Program. The Program encourages states to increase the percentage of long-term care dollars going to home & community-based services through making additional Federal Medical Assistance Percentages available to States that are currently lower performing. This manual aims to help States make the most of this Program.

After a systematic review and development process, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has adopted new data standards for race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability status. Identifying disparities and effectively targeting and monitoring efforts to reduce them has been limited by a lack of specificity, uniformity and quality in data collection and reporting procedures. Review the Final Collection Standards required by Section 4302 of the Affordable Care Act.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 offers options & financial incentives for states seeking to expand systems of long-term services and supports. Many of these opportunities work together & build on existing initiatives, resulting in a strengthened infrastructure for service provision & an LTSS system that meets the needs of Medicaid beneficiaries. Key provisions of the ACA are summarized in this issue brief, followed by considerations for states seeking to take advantage of new opportunities.