This week, our In Focus section reviews the bill put forward last week by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). General consensus, the HMA Roundup included, viewed ACA repeal-and-replace efforts as largely defeated at the end of July, with the Senate’s failure to pass the Better Care Reconciliation Act. There is, however, an emerging view, which was shared by several speakers at last week’s HMA conference, that the Graham-Cassidy bill has a real chance of passing the Senate ahead of the September 30 deadline, at which point the reconciliation process expires and a bill would require 60 votes to pass the Senate. Below, we highlight key provisions of the Graham-Cassidy bill that impact federal funding to states, state Medicaid programs, and the Exchange and individual insurance markets, including both a block grant program targeted at higher-income and Medicaid expansion populations and a Medicaid per capita cap funding structure.
Behavioral Health
Highlights from HMA Conference on Future of Medicaid
Last week, our In Focus section provided a recap of the second annual HMA Conference, The Future of Medicaid is Here: Implications for Payers, Providers, and States, held Monday, September 11, and Tuesday, September 12, in Chicago, Illinois. More than 300 leading executives from health plans, providers, state and federal government, community-based organizations, and others in the health care field gathered to address the challenges and opportunities for organizations serving Medicaid and other vulnerable populations given the priorities of the new Administration and Congress.
New Mexico Issues Centennial Care 2.0 Medicaid Managed Care RFP
This week, our In Focus section reviews the request for proposals (RFP) released by the New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) to reprocure contracts for the state’s Medicaid managed care program in its second phase, Centennial Care 2.0. Centennial Care provides integrated Medicaid managed care coverage, including long-term services and supports (LTSS) and behavioral health, to nearly 700,000 Medicaid beneficiaries in the state, with annual spending of roughly $4.5 billion.
Register Now: 30-plus Speakers Slated for HMA Conference
The Future of Medicaid is Here: Implications for Payers, Providers and States is a two-day event organized by Health Management Associates (HMA). Confirmed speakers include industry executives from Medicaid plans across the nation as well as Medicaid directors from California, Florida, Kansas, Hawaii, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.
It Takes a Community to Divert Populations with Behavioral Health Needs from Jail
This blog post was authored by HMA Principal Bren Manaugh, LCSW-S, CPHQ and Senior Consultant Laquisha Grant, MPA.
We have all seen the headlines about jails and prisons becoming the largest de facto mental healthcare providers in the country. Nationally, 14 to 17 percent of inmates have a serious mental illness, 53 to 68 percent have a substance use disorder[1], and up to 72 percent of jail inmates have both a mental illness and substance use disorder. The overrepresentation of individuals with mental illness and substance use disorder did not happen overnight — and it is not a result of one system or issue.
HMA Conference to Feature Insights from Health Plan CEOs, State Medicaid Directors
Dates: September 11-12, 2017
Location: Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel
Waivers, block grants and per capita caps, member premiums and copays, health savings accounts, expansion, and new benefit design and funding models will take center stage as 35 speakers from leading health plans, states and providers join Health Management Associates for the high-level, two-day conference The Future of Medicaid is Here: Implications for Payers, Providers and States.
HMA’s Raney, Lasky Edit Book that Serves as Guide for Implementing Integrated Care
Integrated Care: A Guide for Effective Implementation is co-edited by HMA’s Lori Raney, MD and Gina Lasky, PhD, MAPL and Collaborative Care Consulting’s Clare Scott, LCSW. The book provides a detailed, thoughtful, and experience-based guide to effective implementation of integrated behavioral healthcare. Using evidence and on the ground experience, the authors share practical and actionable advice for a complex model of care.
Depression Mapping and “Hot-Spotting” Reveals Potential Best Practices
This topic comes to us from HMA’s Anissa Lambertino, PhD, of our Chicago office, and Lori Raney, MD, of our Denver office, and Sarah Arvey, PhD, of our Austin office. May is Mental Health Month, and the first week in May is recognized as National Anxiety and Depression Awareness week. Anissa, Lori, and Sarah’s work, highlighted below, utilized geospatial mapping of prevalence of depression among Medicaid beneficiaries and treatment with FQHC locations in rural southeastern Ohio, revealing potential best practices.
Relationship-Centered Care: Empathy and Healing
This blog post was authored by HMA clinicians
Margaret Kirkegaard, MD, MPH, and Jeffrey Ring, PhD.
Patient: I am anxious about my results, Doctor.
Doctor: Let’s take a look … Yes, you do indeed have cancer. I will refer you to the surgeon for an evaluation as fast as possible. You must have questions.
Patient: (Silent, in shock)
Doctor: OK, well hang out here for a few minutes, and our medical assistant will bring you contact information for the surgeon. We are backed up with patients today, so this may take a short while.
This brief exchange illustrates missed opportunities for healthcare clinicians to provide empathic relationship-centered care.
Early Bird Registration Now Open for HMA’s 2017 Conference on the Future of Medicaid
Health Management Associates is pleased to announce that Early Bird Registration is now open for our second conference on Trends in Publicly Sponsored Healthcare, September 11-12, at the Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel. The theme of this year’s event is The Future of Medicaid is Here: Implications for Payers, Providers and States.
Featured speakers already include some of the nation’s most innovative healthcare leaders. Visit the conference website to receive the Early Bird rate and stay up to date on the latest conference news.