Reports

On January 19th Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the Medicaid LTSS Annual Expenditures Report for Federal Fiscal Years (FFY) 2017 and 2018. This report discusses the LTSS rebalancing trends and growth in expenditures for home and community based services (HCBS) as compared to institutional spending during these select years.

In 2017, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation launched the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) Model to test whether connecting Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to community resources can improve health outcomes and reduce costs by addressing health-related social needs (HRSNs)—adverse social conditions that affect health and health care. This report describes the Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who were eligible for the AHC Model in the Assistance Track.

This report offers initial results and findings from COVID-19 CheckUp, a service provided by BellAge, Inc. to help governments capture actionable data regarding the pandemic in near real-time. The service is currently in use by the governments of New York, Florida, Michigan, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. The first issue of the Bulletin focuses on COVID-19 risk related findings from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services CV19 CheckUp launch.

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) released the 2020 edition of the MACStats: Medicaid and CHIP Data Book, with updated data on national and state Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollment, spending, benefits, and beneficiaries’ health, service use, and access to care. MACStats brings together the range of Medicaid and CHIP statistics, including eligibility and enrollment, benefits, service use and access to care.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, states have used the Appendix K Emergency Preparedness and Response authority to amend Medicaid 1915(c) home- and community-based services (HCBS) waivers and quickly provide more flexible services and supports to Medicaid enrollees and, indirectly, their caregivers. The Appendix K amendment was developed to reduce states’ administrative burdens during a crisis by enabling states to rapidly modify or add services provided through Medicaid waivers.

ACL recently released the Annual Report on Centers for Independent Living for program year (PY) 2019. CILs offer support for individuals with disabilities who want to live independently in their communities. The CIL program provides financial assistance to local CILs and other CBOs. This annual report includes data from CIL annual program performance reports, federal program staff oversight and compliance activities and publicly available information on grantee websites between 9/30/18 - 9/29/19

CMS recently released a Report to Congress highlighting approaches five state programs implemented to address housing instability and improve treatment outcomes for people with Substance Use Disorder. Initiatives mentioned in the report focus on: providing housing-related supports that facilitate access to community resources; sharing data across systems to identify and target those in need for resources; and partnerships building across state and local health and housing systems and providers.

ACL and the Lewin Group released a report highlighting key takeaways from the AARP 2020 LTSS State Scorecard on state efforts in establishing high-performing ADRC/NWD systems. The report compares current data with results from the 2017 LTSS State Scorecard. The report provides scores based on five domains in ADRC/NWD system functions. The report also shares promising practices/lessons learned from five states – Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, and South Dakota.

This resource was developed for human service agency leadership whose role is directing the organization and delivery of services and supports. The five competency domains include: Strengths-Based, Culturally Informed, Whole Person-Focused; Cultivating Connections Inside the System and Out; Rights, Choice, and Control; Partnership, Teamwork, Communication, and Facilitation; and Documentation, Implementation, and Monitoring.

FAIR Health recently published a study that highlights the relationship between preexisting comorbidities of COVID-19 and mortality in privately insured patients. The study describes those most vulnerable to severe COVID-19 outcomes, which helps to inform prevention, treatment and possible protocols for vaccine distribution prioritization, once developed. This study builds on FAIR Health’s series of five COVID-19 briefs that have highlighted the widespread economic impact of the pandemic.