This month’s commentary is focused on sharing information about the new states we have recently begun working with and to remind states about our upcoming informational webinar for Medicaid agencies interested in promoting community integration in long-term services and supports programs.
Newly Selected IAP States
We are excited to share that we began our work focused on improving care for Medicaid Beneficiaries with Complex Needs and High Costs (BCN) this month. The participating states (District of Columbia, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia) will receive program support over the course of ten months and may elect for additional one-on-one support after the initial phase in support of the following goals: (1) identify ways to enhance states’ capacity to use data analytics to better serve the BCN population; (2) develop/refine payment reforms to support BCN programs; and (3) facilitate the replication/spread of promising BCN programs.
Also underway in October is our Medicare-Medicaid Data Integration effort designed to provide targeted support to six states per year to improve care coordination for their dually-eligible Medicare-Medicaid beneficiaries. IAP selected the following six states for 2015-2016: Alabama, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Tennessee.
Upcoming Program Support for States
As we look forward to the next several months, IAP is on track to launch its last two program areas before the end of 2015.
- On October 22nd from 2:00-3:00PM ET, we will hold an all-state informational webinar related to its community integration- long-term services and supports (LTSS) work. This third IAP program area will provide targeted program support to Medicaid agencies seeking to promote community integration for Medicaid beneficiaries using LTSS. Webinar registration is now available and states are encouraged to join to learn about how this IAP effort could support their state’s community integration needs.
- An informational session specific to the fourth IAP program area – physical and mental health integration – will take place in early December, so keep an eye out in the SOTA update emails for that.
Finally, for states interested in receiving updates on upcoming webinars, newly released tools and resources related to IAP, send an email to sotaupdates@cms.hhs.gov and you will be added to the distribution list.