Insights

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.

Show All | Podcast | Blogs | Webinars | Weekly Roundup | Videos | Case Studies | Reports | News | Solutions

Filter by topic:

Receive timely expert insights on topics you care about.

Select Topics

195 Results found.

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Continuing the Path to Medicare-Medicaid Integration

Watch Now

This webinar was held on October 4, 2021.

Federal and state policy makers have long been working to expand enrollment in Medicare-Medicaid integrated care programs (ICPs). ICPs can advance independent living and health equity for individuals who are dually eligible for both programs. However, approximately only one in 10 dually eligible individuals was enrolled in an ICP as of 2019. To encourage ICP enrollment and retention, HMA identified 10 essential elements of ICPs centered around, informed by, and made available to dually eligible individuals. (See HMA Brief #3 and the brief fact sheet.)

During this webinar, HMA shared these 10 essential elements for establishing and simplifying ICPs specifically tailored to diverse individuals’ needs and preferences. Panelists involved in health justice and community-based healthcare offered practical next steps for advancing ICPs.

Learning Objectives

  • Hear about the 10 essential elements for ICPs identified through interviews with diverse stakeholders
  • Engage panelists to share their views on how to advance ICPs tailored around members’ needs
  • Consider the types and level of investment required to advance the essential elements for ICPs

Speakers

  • Arielle Mir, MPA, Vice President of Health Care, Arnold Ventures, Washington, DC
  • Sarah Barth, JD, Principal, HMA, New York, NY
  • Ellen Breslin, MPP, Principal, HMA, Boston, MA
  • Dennis Heaphy, M.Div., M.Ed., MPH, Health Justice Policy Analyst, Disability Policy Consortium, Malden, MA
  • Linda Little, MBA, RN, CCM, President and CEO, Neighborhood Service Organization (NSO), Detroit, MI
Webinar

Webinar Replay: Leveraging Your SAMHSA Certified Community Behavioral Health Center Grant

Watch Now

This webinar, held on August 18, 2021, was the ninth webinar in the series “Exploring the Landscape of Behavioral Healthcare,” covering the growing impact of behavioral healthcare on clinical outcomes and cost.

Winning a SAMHSA Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC) grant is just the beginning.  Now the real work beings. During this webinar, SAMHSA grant experts and a previous grant winner provided a step-by-step guide to implementing and leveraging CCBHC grants for maximum results. Speakers addressed the key steps to achieving CCBHC certification, meeting SAMHSA grantee requirements, and strategically building toward sustainability beyond the two-year grant period.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn what makes the CCBHC grant opportunity unique.
  • Understand the activities and processes needed to help ensure a successful implementation.
  • Find out how to develop strategies that support long-term sustainability.
  • Obtain case studies and lessons learned from a previous CCBHC grantee.

Speakers:

Heidi Arthur, Principal, HMA, New York, NY

Kristan McIntosh, Senior Consultant, HMA, New York, NY

Melissa Jillson, Senior Director, Liberty Resources Inc., Syracuse, NY

Liz Krell, Assistant Director of Process Optimization, Liberty Resources Inc., Syracuse, NY

Webinar

Webinar Replay: The Growing Role of Business Intelligence and Information Technology in State Medicaid Population Health Management Programs

Watch Now

This webinar was held on August 5, 2021. 

State Medicaid agencies (SMAs) are increasingly relying on business intelligence platforms and other information technology (IT) solutions to provide the type of robust analytics needed for successful population health management programs. During this webinar, experts from Health Management Associates (HMA) and Cerner discussed the business intelligence and related IT needs of SMAs specific to population health management, based in part on the results of a recent, proprietary survey of SMAs.  Speakers also discussed how modern IT solutions can be leveraged to address these needs, especially in a world in which modularity and interoperability are king.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the major SMA drivers of IT investments in support of population health management goals and programs, including the need to better manage cost and improve outcomes among high acuity beneficiaries.
  • Identify common gaps in information technology and business intelligence capabilities at SMAs which can impact the success of population health management initiatives.
  • Find out how business intelligence platforms and information technology solutions can promote interstate and intrastate collaboration on population health management programs, including enterprise initiatives across Medicaid agencies and health and human services agencies.
  • Gain insights into the evolution of population health management analytics, business intelligence platforms, and IT solutions that promote modularity and interoperability.

Speakers

Jake Engle, Senior Director, State Government, Cerner
Nathan Gray, Senior Manager, Information System Architecture, Cerner
Juan Montanez, Managing Director, IT Advisory Services, Health Management Associates

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Improving Child Welfare Outcomes: Role of Behavioral Health and Child Welfare in Strengthening Families, Building Resilience, and Increasing Protective Factors

Watch Now

This webinar was held on July 20, 2021, was the eighth webinar in the series “Exploring the Landscape of Behavioral Healthcare,” covering the growing impact of behavioral healthcare on clinical outcomes and cost.

This eighth session featured HMA behavioral health, child welfare and Medicaid experts primed to specifically discuss strategies across child welfare and behavioral health to enhance family engagement and collaboration in increasing protective factors and family resilience.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn options for designing policies and implementing infrastructure that support a multisystem response facilitating family engagement and improving protective factors.
  • Learn about other successful state models for prevention and building family resilience.
  • Learn key benchmarks for successful engagement and empowerment that can be incorporated into QI programs.
  • Introduce and engage in dynamic discussion on the importance of the intersection of race equity, social justice, cultural humility, and responsiveness with family centered/multi-generational practice in addressing inequities.

Speakers

Doris Tolliver, JD, Principal, HMA

Uma Ahluwalia, MSW, MHA, Managing Principal, HMA

Susan Smith, Data Advocates, LLC

Annalisa Baker, MPH, LCSW, Senior Consultant, HMA

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Value Propositions and Roadmaps for Integrating Children’s Behavioral Health and Medicaid with Child Welfare Systems

Watch Now

This held on July 15, 2021, was the seventh webinar in the series “Exploring the Landscape of Behavioral Healthcare,” covering the growing impact of behavioral healthcare on clinical outcomes and cost.

The success of the delivery of state and local child welfare systems is predicated on a strong collaboration across child welfare, children’s behavioral health and Medicaid, building a multigenerational, multisystem response to the problem of child maltreatment. During this webinar, HMA behavioral health, child welfare and Medicaid experts broke down what’s needed to get the integration process started, including a practical approach to workflows as well as an understanding of the touchpoints where integration efforts are likely to have their biggest payoff.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand how child welfare services departments currently interact with the behavioral health service continuum.
  • Learn how to build value by identifying areas where the intersection of child welfare, Medicaid and children’s behavioral health helps improve outcomes and mitigate risk.
  • Identify potential barriers to integration efforts.
  • Learn how other states have applied solutions and strategies aimed at better integrating child welfare systems, Medicaid, and children’s behavioral health.
  • Learn about financing infrastructures that support meaningful whole family approaches to improving protective factors and strengthening family resilience.

 

HMA Speakers:

Uma Ahluwalia, MSW, MHA, Managing Principal, Washington, DC

Annalisa Baker, MPH, LCSW, Senior Consultant, New York, NY

Caitlin Thomas-Henkel, MSW, Principal, Philadelphia, PA

Heidi Arthur, MSW, Principal, New York, NY

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Advancing Health Justice for Medicaid Members with Disabilities, Including Those with Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorder

Watch Now

This webinar, held on June 25, 2021 and was the sixth webinar in the series “Exploring the Landscape of Behavioral Healthcare,” covering the growing impact of behavioral healthcare on clinical outcomes and cost.”

State Medicaid programs must address health disparities and advance health justice for members with disabilities – including those with mental illness and substance use disorder (SUD). Our presenters outlined the path forward in the 2021 report, Advancing Health Justice Using Medicaid Data: Key Lessons from Minnesota for the Nation, produced by AcademyHealth, Disability Policy Consortium (DPC), and Health Management Associates (HMA). During this webinar, speakers from DPC and HMA discussed how to measure health disparities, present the evidence on health disparities from one state’s Medicaid program, and discussed what federal and state policymakers can do to address health justice stemming from racial injustice, discrimination, bias, and stigma in our healthcare system.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand what health justice and other related terms mean
  • Learn how to measure health disparities affecting Medicaid members with disabilities – including those with mental illness and SUD
  • Examine evidence on health disparities from one state Medicaid program’s efforts
  • Consider the national implications of this evidence on Medicaid members
  • Review what actions policymakers can take to advance health justice

Speakers

  • Ellen Breslin, MPP. Principal, HMA, Boston, MA
  • Dennis Heaphy, M.Div. M.Ed. MPH, Health Justice Policy Analyst, Disability Policy Consortium, Malden, MA
  • Anissa Lambertino, PhD., Senior Consultant, HMA, Chicago, IL
Webinar

Webinar Replay: Practical Approaches to Supervising Behavioral Health Staff Working Remotely or in Hybrid Settings

Watch Now

This webinar was held on June 15, 2021. It was the fifth webinar in the series Exploring the Landscape of Behavioral Healthcare, covering the growing impact of behavioral healthcare on clinical outcomes and cost.

Behavioral health staff face new challenges, anxiety, and risk of burnout as they attempt to deliver the best care possible to clients in care settings impacted by the pandemic. That’s true whether staff members work remotely or in emerging hybrid environments in which care is provided both virtually and face-to-face. Supervisors play a critical role in helping staff work through stressful logistical, clinical, and even personal situations so that the focus remains on the client.

During this webinar, HMA behavioral health experts offered practical approaches to managing staff in both virtual and hybrid settings, helping to ensure staff members remain productive, appreciated, supported, and focused on improving client outcomes.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand how the stresses of the pandemic, including social distancing, loss, and the challenges of staying connected to friends and family, have impacted the mental health of clients and providers.
  • Identify practical approaches to remote staff supervision, including huddles, group and individual supervision, and tactics for successful conference calls.
  • Learn how supervisors and staff can work together to manage work/life boundaries, especially given the need to oversee staff working in a combination of settings, including the home, and the complexities of vaccination disclosure.

Speakers

Deb Peartree, Senior Consultant, Albany, NY

Annalisa Baker, Senior Consultant, HMA, New York City

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Improving Behavioral Health Access and Outcomes through Primary Care Integration

Watch Now

This webinar was held on June 10, 2021. This was the fourth webinar in the series Exploring the Landscape of Behavioral Healthcare, covering the growing impact of behavioral healthcare on clinical outcomes and cost.

The integration of behavioral health into primary care settings is an effective means for treating less complex conditions, improving outcomes, and reducing referrals to overburdened specialty behavioral health providers. During this webinar, HMA behavioral health experts discussed strategies for integrating primary and behavioral care, including integration models that can be used to blend and shape services according to a clinic’s specific needs. Speakers also introduced a stepped approach to integration aimed at helping providers identify the right care for the right person at the right time.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the features and components of effective approaches to integrated care, including the roles of team members, workflows, and care protocols.
  • Learn how to distinguish among various integrated care models, including the collaborative care model (CoCM) and primary care behavioral health model (PCBH).
  • Identify key outcomes measures that demonstrate the effectiveness and value of integrated care to payers and patients.
  • Understand the benefits of a stepped approach to integrating primary and behavioral health, ensuring patients receive the care they need.

HMA Speakers

Lori Raney, MD, Principal, Denver, CO

Barry Jacobs, PhD, Principal, Philadelphia, PA

Webinar

Webinar Replay – Stimulant Use Disorder: Harm Reduction Strategies and Evidence-based Interventions

Watch Now

This webinar was held on June 3, 2021. 

People who use stimulants may experience a range of negative health outcomes, including cardiovascular events, increased risk of acquiring or spreading HIV and Hepatitis C, dental problems, violent behavior, psychotic symptoms, and overdose. Fortunately, an impressive array of evidence-based treatments and harm reduction strategies are available to help individuals address stimulant use and addiction.

During this webinar, HMA behavioral health experts outlined proven interventions, including motivational interviewing, cognitive behavior therapy, contingency management, and community reinforcement therapy. Speakers also discussed recent HIV outbreak clusters and harm reduction efforts.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the risks associated with stimulant use, including the likelihood of overdose, heightened susceptibility to certain physical and behavioral health conditions, and risk of diseases transmitted sexually or through needles.
  • Review the impressive results achieved with evidence-based treatment strategies, including motivational interviewing, cognitive behavior therapy, contingency management, and community reinforcement therapy.
  • Understand the importance of harm reduction interventions, including safe sex, pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, overdose prevention education, and access to clean syringes, fentanyl test strips, and naloxone.

HMA Speakers

Charles Robbins, MBA, Principal, Los Angeles, CA

Shannon Robinson, MD, Principal, Costa Mesa, CA

Webinar

Webinar Replay: Post-COVID Strategies for Building Trauma-Informed Behavioral Health Systems

Watch Now

This webinar was held on May 19, 2021.

COVID-19 has exposed deep fissures in our national and local healthcare systems, which comes as no surprise to mental health providers already accustomed to treating behavioral health needs rooted in systemic racial and economic disparities. Addressing these needs requires targeted outreach and robust community engagement efforts aligned with the principles of trauma-informed care. During this webinar, behavioral health experts focused on organizations, networks, partnerships, and protocols that ensure access to supportive, integrated behavioral healthcare for underserved individuals.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the behavioral health needs of underserved, marginalized, and isolated populations.
  • Learn how to activate leaders and organizations to help build trauma-informed communities.
  • Find out how engagement with faith and community-based partners can promote trauma-informed care, community healing, recovery, and innovation.
  • Understand the intersection of behavioral and public health, including a look at how to maximize community behavioral health resources.
  • Learn how accountable care and value-based payment models create opportunities to address trauma and behavioral health disparities.

Speakers

Heidi Arthur, LMSW, Principal, Health Management Associates, New York
Lawrence Fowler, Deputy Director, Emma L. Bowen Community Services Center
Catherine Guerrero, MPA, Principal, Health Management Associates, Denver
Mark Sasvary, Ph.D., LCSW, Chief Clinical Officer, Coordinated Behavioral Health Services

Webinar

Webinar Replay: A Deep Dive into Improving CAHPS Member Experience Measures at Health Plans

Watch Now

This webinar was held on May 19, 2021.

Member experience measures from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey play a growing role in the quality rankings of Medicaid and Medicare health plans, with the difference between high and low plan scores often amounting to a few percentage points. During this webinar, HMA quality expert David Wedemeyer delved into how Medicaid and Medicare plans can improve their CAHPS scores and thereby benefit from incentive payments tied to high quality performance.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the growing role CAHPS measures have in health plan quality rankings and incentive payment models.
  • Learn how to develop a comprehensive member experience improvement structure, including a process for identifying and engaging members most likely to be dissatisfied.
  • Find out how the use of data analytics can drive a deeper understanding of trends in member experience and help identify real opportunities to improve.
  • Discover techniques for obtaining point-of-service feedback that can help address potential member experience issues before they arise

Speaker

David Wedemeyer, BSN, Principal, Los Angeles, CA

Webinar

Webinar Replay: When Behavioral Health Leaders Are Also Behavioral Health Family Caregivers

Watch Now

This webinar was held on May 13, 2021.

This was the second webinar in the series “Exploring the Landscape of Behavioral Healthcare,” covering the growing impact of behavioral healthcare on clinical outcomes and cost.

Behavioral health professionals who have cared for their own family members have firsthand knowledge of the effects of depression, schizophrenia, and substance use disorder on individuals and families. While the experience informs their work in many positive ways, it can also make them susceptible to strong emotional reactions that may cloud their judgment. During this webinar, HMA clinical psychologist, consultant, and family caregiving expert Barry Jacobs explored strategies that behavioral health professionals can employ to manage their emotions in professional situations, ensuring the most effective and constructive interactions with family members and treatment teams as well as the best possible outcomes for patients.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the burgeoning phenomenon of family caregiving in America.
  • Find out how behavioral health professionals are impacted by their own personal family caregiving experiences in both positive and potentially negative ways, including a look at the most recent research on the subject.
  • Learn three effective strategies behavioral health professionals can employ to manage their own emotional reactions to interactions with clients and staff members.

Speaker

Barry Jacobs, Psy.D., Principal, Philadelphia