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HMA Insights: Your source for healthcare news, ideas and analysis.

HMA Insights – including our new podcast – puts the vast depth of HMA’s expertise at your fingertips, helping you stay informed about the latest healthcare trends and topics. Below, you can easily search based on your topic of interest to find useful information from our podcast, blogs, webinars, case studies, reports and more.

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195 Results found.

Webinar

Webinar replay: Medicare policy changes impacting behavioral health services workforce and population health

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This webinar was held on September 12, 2023. 

Continuing our discussion from Part 1 of this series, recent rule changes proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will enable regulatory and statutory expansion of behavioral health services and providers. This webinar focused on how those changes will impact the already strained workforce, and the corresponding impacts on population health, value-based care, and the needs of special populations. Experts dove deeper into approaches health systems may adopt to handle workforce shortages while expanding access.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand how CMS rule updates on behavioral health services will help expand needed care for Medicare recipients and dual eligible populations.
  • Create strategies for addressing the 2023 CMS rule updates to benefit employers and delivery systems toward improving whole health outcomes and reducing behavioral health workforce shortages.
Webinar

Webinar replay: Medicaid 1115 justice waivers and special populations: meeting the needs of justice-involved youth

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This webinar was held on August 17, 2023. 

HMA’s webinar series, 1115 Medicaid Justice Demonstration Waivers: Bridging Healthcare, focused on helping stakeholders optimize care for persons in carceral settings and during their transition back to the community.

Youth in juvenile correctional settings often have complex medical, behavioral health, developmental, social, and legal needs. Many youth have been exposed to adverse childhood experiences, unsupervised home environments and have lacked access to behavioral health services. Transitioning youth from correctional facilities require high quality transition planning services for successful reentry into the community.  Part 5 of this webinar series delved into the types of care and services needed for youth, so that a whole-person approach can be applied to facilitate successful reentry to the community.

Learning objectives:

  • Understand the unique needs of juveniles in correctional settings
  • Discuss opportunities under CMS State Medicaid Director Level 1115 guidance to support reentry for justice involved youth
  • Discuss effective state models for justice-involved youth
  • Learn how to create a whole-person approach to health needs of juveniles in the justice setting

Other webinars in this series:

Webinar

Webinar replay: new tools for Medicare policy changes impacting behavioral health services

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This webinar was held on July 26, 2023.

In light of the recent Medicare regulatory and statutory expansion of behavioral health services and providers, this webinar focused on how those changes will impact the demand, delivery, and availability of behavioral health services. Experts covered how changes in Medicare coverage will affect different behavioral health provider types, improve access to opioid/SUD treatment, and improve flexibility with telehealth/digital service delivery. At a time when behavioral health access is strained, and workforce shortages are reported nation-wide, this new Medicare coverage (expected rules to be announced soon) presents both a significant opportunity as well as a challenge to the delivery system.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the recent Medicare regulatory and statutory changes impacting behavioral health providers, services, and reimbursement.
  • Anticipate changes in demand for behavioral health services and the impact on your local market.
  • Plan for the impact of regulation changes on demand for opioid/SUD treatment and telehealth/digital service delivery.
Webinar

Webinar replay: Medicaid 1115 justice waiver opportunities- medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder in carceral settings

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This webinar was held on July 13, 2023.

HMA’s webinar series, 1115 Medicaid Justice Demonstration Waivers: Bridging Healthcare, focuses on helping stakeholders optimize care for persons in carceral settings and during their transition back to the community.

Part 4 focused on access to medication assisted treatment (MAT) for substance use disorder (SUD) during and after transition from a carceral setting into the community, to ensure continuity of care for those leaving incarceration to reduce overdose and recidivism.

Learning Objectives:

  • MAT Trends: Understand benefits of MAT for incarcerated individuals and related risk management for correctional facilities, providers, counties, and health plans.
  • Building Connections to Community-Based SUD Care: Discover approaches to release planning for successful community re-entry for those on MAT to support recovery and reduce recidivism.
  • Integrated and Coordinated Care: Understand the role of community-based and health plan care managers and persons with lived experience in supporting access to MAT and successful community re-entry.

Other webinars in this series:

Watch a replay of Part 1: Medicaid Authority and Opportunity to Build New Programs for Justice-Involved Individuals

Watch a replay of Part 2: 1115 Justice Waivers to Improve Carceral Healthcare Delivery Information

Watch a replay of Part 3: 1115 Justice Waivers: Connecting Community Partners to Improve Transitions of Care

Save the Date – Thursday August 17, 2023, 2 p.m. ET: Part 5: 1115 Justice Waivers and Special Populations: Meeting the Needs of Justice-Impacted Youth

Webinar

Opportunities for state regulators to shape policy and regulation of treatment for substance use disorder

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This has been rescheduled from June 20, 2023

Health Management Associates (HMA) is offering a 3-part series of webinars looking at the effect of proposed regulations on delivery of opioid treatment services to the population facing addiction issues. In this third and final webinar, HMA consultants will highlight opportunities for state regulators to shape policy and regulation of SUD treatment.

New federal regulations encourage significant changes to how opioid treatment is provided, with the goal of expanding access and improving patient-centered care. State regulators will need to adapt their regulatory practices and work closely with Medicaid agencies and treatment providers so the new regulations can achieve their intended goals. This webinar will discuss how State Opioid Treatment Authorities (SOTAs), licensing entities, and state Medicaid agencies will need to work together to craft updated regulations, facility licensing, and reimbursement practices that advance person-centered care.

HMA experts will be joined by Allegra Schorr, VP, West Midtown Medical Group and President of the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates (COMPA). COMPA represents New York State’s Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs), as well as providers offering office-based medication-assisted treatment, currently providing addiction treatment to over 43,000 New Yorkers.

Learning Objectives:

  • New Regulatory Requirements – Overview of state rules around opioid treatment vs the new requirements.
  • How to Improve SUD Treatment Access – Specific recommendations on statutory and regulatory changes that could lead to more patient centered treatment options.
  • States Leading the Way – Examples from states that are leading the way to expand access and reduce stigma.

Other webinars in this series:

Watch the replay of Part 1 on Opioid Treatment Providers

Watch the replay of Part 2 on Opioid State Payers Aligning Incentives for Treatment

Webinar

Webinar replay: connecting community partners to improve transitions of care

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This webinar was held on June 15, 2023.

HMA’s webinar series, 1115 Medicaid Justice Demonstration Waivers: Bridging Healthcare, focused on helping stakeholders optimize the continuity of care for persons in carceral settings and during their transition back to the community.

Part 3 focused on optimizing key partnerships before, during and after transition from a carceral setting into the community to ensure the best outcomes for individuals eligible for 1115 approved waiver services.

Learning Objectives:

  • Health Assessments and Transition Planning: Understand the health and resource needs of returning citizens (health, behavioral health and social issues).
  • Collaboration with Community Providers: Identify key partners and formalize collaborations to strengthen the quality of transitions care and support provided to individuals transitioning to the community.
  • Insurance Enrollment Strategies: Develop Medicaid enrollment strategies that apply to your state and local framework.

Other webinars in this series:

  • Watch a replay of Part 1: Medicaid Authority and Opportunity to Build New Programs for Justice-Involved Individuals
  • Watch a replay of Part 2: 1115 Justice Waivers to Improve Carceral Healthcare Delivery Information
  • Part 4: 1115 Justice Waivers and Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) – July 13 at 2pm ET
  • Part 5: 1115 Justice Waivers and Special Populations: Meeting the Needs of Justice-Impacted
Webinar

Webinar replay: opportunities for opioid treatment providers to improve patient outcomes

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This webinar was held on May 23, 2023.

HMA’s 3-part New Rules in Treatment of Opioid Addiction webinar series is aimed at helping stakeholders prepare for new federal rules that will change how medications are delivered to persons with opioid use disorders. Reducing daily visits will allow persons served to engage in work, family and community activities that sustain recovery, but programs have historically relied on daily visits for revenue. With the new rules, opioid treatment centers (OTPs) have a unique opportunity to advance person-centered care. In part 1 of this series, we addressed changes in clinical and business practices, as well as payment structures that will enable OTPs to implement new treatment programs and other flexibilities to improve patient outcomes. Other parts of the webinar series examine policy and incentives in the new system.

Learning Objectives

OTP Regulatory Changes – Understand expected changes from the point of view of clinicians and providers.

Critical Action Steps – Identify what OTPs will need to do next to comply.

State Variation – Consider how to navigate new rules across states with different approaches to treatment.

Featured Speaker

Nick Stavros, CEO, Community Medical Services

Mark your calendars for other webinars in this series:

Opportunities for State Payers to Improve and Align Incentives – June 6, 2023 at 3 p.m. ET

Opportunities for State Regulators to Shape Policy and Regulation – June 20, 2023 at 3 p.m. ET

Webinar

Webinar replay: using 1115 justice waivers to improve carceral healthcare delivery information

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This webinar was held on May 18, 2023.

HMA’s five-part 1115 Justice Waivers: Building Bridges of Health for Persons Leaving Carceral Settings webinar series is designed to help plans and other stakeholders improve the long-term health outcomes of individuals leaving carceral settings. This webinar focused on the carceral settings operational healthcare practices, including intake screenings to aid in risk assignment and facilitate community re-entry. The 1115 justice waivers allow Medicaid programs to support in-carceral care, but to optimize resources, systems need information to translate transition in care best practices to carceral places of service.

HMA consultants with lived leadership experience working inside and outside jails and prisons provided plans and state agencies with a unique perspective on opportunities for transformation.

Learning Objectives:

  • Establishing Health Care Transitions Across Providers: Methods to improve transitions in care through recognizing carceral facilities as a place of service in the continuum of care.
  • Health Risk Assessments to Improve Continuity of Care: Utilizing health screening and risk assessments done at intake and throughout incarceration so Medicaid can improve healthcare transitions from jail into the community.

Other webinars in the “1115 Justice Waivers: Building Bridges of Health for Persons Leaving Carceral Settings” series: 

Part 1 – Webinar replay: Medicaid authority and opportunity to build new programs for justice-involved individuals
Register now for Part 3 – June 15, 2pm ET – Transitions of care: identifying and connecting the key partners
July 13 2 p.m. ET – Part 4 – 1115 justice waivers and medication assisted therapy (MAT)
Upcoming Part 5 – 1115 justice waivers and special populations: meeting the needs of justice-impacted youth

Webinar

Webinar replay: Medicaid authority and opportunity to build new programs for justice-involved individuals

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This webinar was held on April 6, 2023.

This webinar was designed to help states and other stakeholders understand the section 1115 parameters and that will provide insight to states, local government, carceral care settings and providers on how to best plan for implementing such services.

Why this is important:

On January 26, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved California’s (CA) section 1115 request to cover targeted healthcare services for incarcerated individuals 90 days before release. This historical partial rollback of the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy empowers the CA Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to collaborate with state agencies, counties, and community-based organizations to create coordinated community reentry services focused on persons transitioning from incarceration to community that provide physical and behavioral healthcare services.

Fourteen states have pending section 1115 demonstration requests:

These requests include specific healthcare services for justice-involved individuals. CMS has indicated it will be issuing guidance on the coverage parameters for healthcare services for individuals transitioning from carceral settings.  These efforts allow states, counties, and cities to build coordinated systems of healthcare care to support reentry.  Building such systems requires infrastructure development and enhancement, stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, and project and change management across justice partners, health plans, and community-based organizations.

Additional resources:

Webinar

Webinar replay: rural health equity for dually eligible individuals: improving access to services and integrated care programs

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This webinar was held on February 2, 2023. 

Dually eligible individuals covered under Medicare and Medicaid living in rural areas struggle to access the services, care coordination, and integrated care programs they need. To address these needs, HMA conducted multi-state roundtable discussions with diverse stakeholders to create The Health Equity & Access for Rural Dually Eligible Individuals (HEARD) Toolkit. During this webinar, our experts summarized and discussed the toolkit’s actionable solutions for improving health and social outcomes for rural dually eligible individuals.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand why the voices of rural dually eligible individuals must drive planning efforts to generate innovations and prioritize investments to advance independent living and recovery goals.
  • Learn how experiences shared from New Mexico, North Dakota, and Tennessee can offer lessons.
  • Explore eight actionable solutions for improving health and social outcomes among rural dually eligible individuals as outlined in the HEARD toolkit.
  • Understand why community engagement and investment in rural capacity are essential to improving access to services and integrated care programs for rural dually eligible individuals.

Speakers

Arielle Mir, Vice President, Health Care, Arnold Ventures

HMA Team

Ellen Breslin, Principal
Samantha Di Paola, Consultant
Susan McGeehan, Senior Consultant

Expert Panelists

Dr. Kevin Bennett, Professor of Family Medicine, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Director of the Research Center for Transforming Health, and Director of the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Care
Dennis Heaphy, Health Justice Advocate and Researcher, Massachusetts Disability Policy Consortium, Co-Chair, One Care Implementation Council, a One Care member, and MACPAC Commissioner
Pamela J. Parker, Medicare-Medicaid Integration Consultant, SNP Alliance
Tallie Tolen, Long-Term Services and Supports Bureau Chief, Medicaid, New Mexico Human Services Department

Webinar

Webinar replay: state strategies for the certified community behavioral health clinic demonstration planning grant opportunity

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This webinar was held on November 7, 2022.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act offers new funding for states to develop a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Demonstration program. A new CCBHC Planning Grant Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for states has just been released with a deadline of Monday December 19, 2022. During this webinar – a follow up to our October 6 webinar – experts from HMA and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing provided an overview of the CCBHC Demonstration program NOFO, offered strategies for using CCBHC as a strategic transformational opportunity for systems improvement, reviewed the NOFO requirements and key changes from previous opportunities, and outline strategies for developing a successful response.

Learning Objectives

  • Review requirements of the new CCBHC Demonstration Planning NOFO for states and how it varies from previous efforts.
  • Understand the importance of aligning the CCBHC model within a larger state behavioral health and integrated care strategy.
  • Learn key considerations for states in responding to the opportunity and steps to improve the quality of a response.

Speakers

Kristan McIntosh, Principal, HMA

Heidi Arthur, Principal, HMA

Josh Rubin, Principal, HMA

Rebecca Farley-David, Senior Advisor, Public Policy and Special Initiatives, National Council for Mental Wellbeing

 

Did You Miss Part 1 of our CCBHC Planning Grant Webinar Series?

In case you missed it, experts from HMA and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing were joined by state leaders from New York and Michigan (two current CCBHC Demonstration states) for a pre-NOFO release discussion on October 6, 2022. During this prior webinar, we shared lessons learned and strategies states have used to successfully plan for the CCBHC Demonstration Program and leverage the CCBHC initiative as a transformation opportunity that can help behavioral health care systems achieve their broader health quality and access goals. The recording, slide deck, and an associated Q&A document from that previous session can be found here.

Webinar

Webinar replay: equity-centered approaches to supporting community prevention and treatment

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This webinar was held on November 15, 2022. 

Deeply rooted structures, systems, and beliefs have perpetuated racial inequities within substance use and mental health treatment and recovery settings. Racism and associated traumas add to these injustices and may influence how people of color experience and seek help for behavioral health needs. During this webinar, hear from community-based practitioners, who are leveraging evidence-based practices centered in equity, to provide support to our most vulnerable through harm reduction, overdose prevention and linkage to community treatment services.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn about the importance of centering your approaches in equity.
  • Obtain concrete examples of specific equity practices for harm reduction and overdose prevention.
  • Develop an understanding of national efforts that can support prevention in communities, driven by communities.

Speakers

Juleigh Nowinski Konchak, MD, Attending Physician, Behavioral Health, Department of Family and Community Medicine and Center for Health Equity and Innovation, Cook County Health
Rashad Saafir, PhD, President, CEO, Bobby E Wright Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center

Moderators

Michelle Ford, Principal, HMA
Leticia Reyes-Nash, Principal, HMA