CMS

This CMS letter to State Medicaid Directors highlights six evidence-based practices shown to be effective for persons with mental illness. Following each description is a short discussion of the role of Medicaid services to support all or part of the practice.

Quality Communication #9 represents another in a series of CMS communications to support state efforts to improve the quality of services and supports. The letter announces 4 technical assistance products: Home and Community Based Services: Quality Management Roles & Responsibilities; Discovery Methods for Remediation and Quality Improvement; Software for the Participant Experience Survey (PES & Users’ Guide) –MR/DD Version; Participant Experience Survey & Users’ Guide –Brain Injury version.

CMS was soliciting proposals from states to develop the infrastructure to support competitive employment opportunities for people with disabilities. Funding for this program is intended to facilitate enhancements to state Medicaid programs and services, to promote linkages between Medicaid and other employment-related service agencies and to develop a comprehensive system of employment supports for people with disabilities. Applications due 07/07/05. Funding Opportunity: HHS-2005-CMS-MIG-0006

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) invite proposals for grants in three categories: a. Family-to-Family Health Care Information and Education Centers b. Systems Transformation Grants c. Aging & Disability Resource Centers. In FY 05, during the consolidated appropriations process, Congress appropriated $39 million to fund a new round of RCSC grants. States and other eligible organizations, in partnership with their disability & aging communities, may submit proposals until 7/7/05.

The CMS Systems Change conference was February 28-March 2, 2005. Presentations from the 2005 sessions are available in both PDF and text formats. Topics range from ideas on sustaining systems change, employment services, Medicaid, integrating quality, policy implications and barriers to providing services. Full titles are listed in the keywords section.

This report outlines the annual Medicare Advantage capitation rate for each Medicare Advantage payment area for 2006, and the risk and other factors to be used in adjusting such rates. Attached is a spreadsheet containing the capitation rate tables for CY 2006, a spreadsheet which shows the statutory component of the regional benchmarks and the National Per Capita Medicare Advantage Growth Percentage. The 2006 national per capita Medicare Advantage growth rate is 4.8 percent.

The information in this paper supports the President's New Freedom Initiative initiative by describing how a state might use the Health Insurance Flexibility and Accountability (HIFA) waiver option under Section 1115 authority to improve access to community-based services for persons with mental illness. These services can include basic health care coverage, enhanced community-based supports, and provisions to encourage the use of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI).

Collaboration between state Medicaid and Mental Health programs has varied greatly across states and administrations. The purpose of this paper is to identify and describe the basic elements of successful collaboration through 1) a review of the literature on collaboration, and 2) a description of collaboration in two states. The state examples highlight the mechanisms through which successful collaboration occurs and describe the types of activities in which collaborating agencies engage.

Draft Version 3.0 of the1915c Medicaid HCBS Waiver Application and the “Instructions, Technical Guide and Review Criteria.” are now available. These materials provide guidance for completing the application, background information on program requirements and assurances, an explanation of options available to states and review criteria. States interested in using the draft application prior to 1/’06 should notify your CMS Regional Office which will provide you with the most current -Version 3.2.

As part of an on-going effort to share information on quality, CMS has offered a series of letters and progress reports. This eighth letter discusses and a new resource: <i>Risk Management and Quality in HCBS: Individual Risk Planning and Prevention, System-Wide Quality Improvement</i>. The letter address the interrelated steps for Successful risk management for individuals in HCBS waivers.