All States/Territories

This brief explores design considerations and policy levers Medicaid agencies may consider for encouraging uptake of tech-enabled innovation within Medicaid managed care. The brief is a product of the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative, which brings together Medicaid programs, their managed care plans, and other stakeholders to spread tech innovations that can improve the health of Medicaid populations. The collaborative is led by Acumen America, Adaptation Health, and the Center for Health Care Strategies and supported by The MolinaCares Accord, CommonSpirit Health, and Hopelab.

This brief highlights key provisions of the federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, recently signed into law by President Biden. The law includes several provisions to lower prescription drug costs for people with Medicare and reduce drug spending by the federal government, beginning in 2023. This brief examines the potential impact of these provisions for Medicare beneficiaries nationally and by state.

On Monday, August 22, 2022 CMS released the Money Follows the Person (MFP): Updated State Transitions annual report for calendar years 2017 to 2020. The MFP demonstration, established by Congress through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, enables state Medicaid programs to help Medicaid beneficiaries who live in institutions transition into the community, and gives people with disabilities and older adults more choice in deciding where to live and to receive long-term services and supports. From the time transitions began in 2008 to the end of 2020, states had transitioned 107,128 people to community living through MFP. The brief shows how MFP transitions varied by state and target population over time.

This online course is intended for care facility staff and advises on person-centered approaches to communicating with older adults. Changing Talk: Online Training (CHATO) includes three, one hour long modules and concludes with a 15-minute evaluation. An implementation toolkit with CHATO training resources is also available.

This brief highlights key lessons to inform data-sharing partnerships between community-based organizations, state agencies, and individuals with lived expertise. Lessons draw from the experiences of participants in Learning and Action in Policy and Partnerships, a national initiative supporting community-based data-sharing efforts led by Data Across Sectors for Health in partnership with the Center for Health Care Strategies through support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

This infographic has facts and statistics about programs serving older adults and the experiences of older Americans.

National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services (NASDDDS) released a joint white paper with the Institute on Community Integration at UMN and the Human Services Research Institute providing data on and suggested policy remedies for the direct support workforce crisis.

With support from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, CHCS brought together patients, providers, researchers, and clinicians to develop a Patient-Centered Complex Care Research Agenda. The agenda aims to embed a consistent focus on what matters most to patients into complex care research design and will be released in Fall 2022. This blog post shares lessons for including patient perspectives to guide research priorities, based on CHCS’ experience creating a patient and family advisory board and a research community to help inform the Research Agenda.

The Aging and Disability Business Institute has published two infographics exploring how Area Agencies on Aging and other community-based organizations address the social determinants of health of older adults and people with disabilities in their communities through contracts with health care entities. The infographics identify key partners and services in these contracts, as well as where this contracting activity is occurring around the country.

In February 2022, ODEP and its LEAD Center convened national experts to discuss potential policy solutions for supporting Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). This report outlines recommendations across four areas: DSP Career Pathways and Training; Professionalization of DSPs as a Distinct Occupation; Enhancing Wages and Benefits; and DSPs as a Career Path for People with Disabilities.