Reports

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), ADvancing States, and ODPHP, hosted a State Healthy Aging Workshop. State officials developed action plans for healthy aging that achieve shared goals of the state public health agency and the state aging agency. This report provides an overview of the state team planning outcomes and an evaluation of the workshop activities and presentations.

The United Health Foundation, in partnership with the American Public Health Association, released the 26th edition of America's Health Rankings. This report reflects the various factors that affect the health of American's using a state-by-state analysis. Additionally, the report provides information on the progress of different health initiatives and challenges, a comparison with other nations, health rankings by state, and benchmark measures to quantify how health is changing over the years.

The AARP Public Policy Institute published a report that examined what state Medicaid agencies need in order to effectively monitor the performance of managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) programs. Eight states with long-term experience operating and overseeing MLTSS were used to analyze monitoring capacities and develop promising practices. The states were: Arizona, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics in collaboration with the Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire's Institute on Disability published this month's National Trends on Disability Employment report (nTIDE). Each month this report is published to mark the changes of employment for people with disabilities. Labor statistics indicate that very few people with disabilities are working for the third month in a row. Meanwhile employment rates remain steady for people without disabilities.

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) has four new reports available from the National Study of Long-Term Care Providers (NSLTCP). The data briefs and state tables use survey data from NCHS’ 2014 NSLTCP. NSLTCP provides reliable, accurate, relevant, and timely statistical information to support and inform long-term care services policy, research, and practice.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released their monthly report for September 2015 on Medicaid and CHIP application, eligibility, and enrollment data. States provides data to CMS on factors related to key application, eligibility and enrollment processes using the Medicaid and CHIP Performance Indicator Project. The data is then used to inform CMS on the operations of the programs in each state and to share state performance data publicly.

This is a report on the lifelong disparities that exist among older American Indian (AI) and Alaska Native (AN) populations when compared to the general United States population of older adults. The report includes a definition of who falls into the category of American Indian, identifies where these populations generally live in the U.S., and compares AI/ANs generally with the rest of the population of older adults and also specifically compares health coverage.

The University of California San Francisco published a report about dementia care coordination for duals populations with a specific look at the inadequate workforce of dementia-capable care coordinators.Currently, there are twelve states in the process of implementing demonstrations projects. This report examined three-way contracts from seven states that were selected for their expertise in care coordination.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a new report that shows the premium rebate record since 2011. The Affordable Care Act requires that health insurance companies spend a minimum of 80% of premium dollars on health care, resulting in $2.4 billion in consumer rebates since 2011. CMS' results indicate that consumers are receiving a higher value for their premium dollars as a result of the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR), 80/20 rule.

The Employment Policy and Measurement Rehabilitation Research and Training Center, with funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, published a report on financing transition services. Multiple funding streams, or braiding of resources, are used to fund the services and supports available for transition-age youth seeking employment or higher education. This report examines who the payers of last resort are based on different regulatory and legal requirements.