Informed by research and exploration of the on some of the most complex challenges facing children in a post-pandemic world, experts from L.A. Care Health Plan, the nation’s largest publicly operated plan, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), one of the nation’s leading pediatric hospitals, unveiled their first-ever Los Angeles County State of Children’s Health … Read More
Substance Use Disorder in California – A Focused Landscape Analysis
August 26, 2024
HMA found that the substance use disorder treatment system, which sits outside of specialty mental health and mild-to-moderate mental health services, results in an inconsistent and siloed system. The delivery of programs and services across the state vary because of differences in geography (rural, suburban, and urban densities) as well as county participation in the … Read More
State Approaches to Managing the Medicaid Pharmacy Benefit
August 20, 2024
Millions of Americans rely on Medicaid drug coverage to treat acute illnesses and manage chronic and disabling conditions. Though optional, all states provide pharmacy benefits under Medicaid but administer the benefit in different ways in accordance with federal guidelines. To better understand how states across the country administer the Medicaid pharmacy benefit, as well as … Read More
Economic Analysis of Opioid Use Disorder in the Medicare Fee-for Service Program
June 27, 2024
This report quantifies the economic impact of opioid use disorder (OUD) specific to the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) program, which covers approximately 51.6 percent of Medicare beneficiaries. We find that the cost to Medicare for managing these newly diagnosed patients was $29,669 more per patient than the propensity-matched control patients without OUD in 2022. We thus … Read More
HMA paper examines federal funding streams supporting crisis pregnancy centers
June 17, 2024
Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are organizations that represent themselves as reproductive healthcare clinics offering services for pregnant people and appear similar to clinics offering a full range of reproductive health services. Federal funding to CPCs may constitute non-allowable uses of such support based on the legislative intent and grant requirements of these programs. In this … Read More
HMA report evaluates needs of Nevada’s Medical Assistance for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled program
June 14, 2024
The Nevada Division of Health Care Financing and Policy (DHCFP) engaged HMA to evaluate Nevada’s Medical Assistance for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled (MAABD) program and the needs of its participants. A targeted focus of the evaluation was on home and community-based services (HCBS) within the Nevada MAABD population, including Nevada’s Frail Elderly (FE) and … Read More
New HMA report using VRDC data analyzes hip fracture outcomes in Dual Eligible population
May 14, 2024
In this new report, “Answering Questions Using Virtual Research Data Center (VRDC): How using Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Impacts Hip Fracture Outcomes“, HMA is now using Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Virtual Research Data Center (VRDC) to answer important healthcare questions. One contractual obligation for use of CMS data is the release … Read More
Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Reform: Structural Topics and Recommendations to Strengthen the System for the Future
May 7, 2024
Recent years have witnessed a growing bipartisan call to reform how Medicare reimburses for physician and other health professional services. Stakeholders assert that the current system—the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS)—is misaligned to today’s practice patterns and market dynamics. Many constituencies maintain that the current approach is insufficiently updated, embeds known pricing distortions, and does … Read More
Compassionate Overdose Response: Summit Highlights and Key Takeaways
May 1, 2024
HMA’s Compassionate Overdose Response Summit suggests “high dose” naloxone isn’t necessary. More than 100,000 people in the United States die every year from drug overdoses, driven by the availability of illicitly manufactured fentanyl. On March 19, 2024, HMA held the Compassionate Overdose Response Summit to discuss overdose response and reversal drugs like naloxone in the … Read More
HMA white paper examines expanding home care value through innovative client and caregiving supports
February 6, 2024
As the U.S. population ages, non-medical personal care services are increasingly important for supporting Americans to remain in homes, as the vast majority of them prefer. But in-home personal care services will remain in short supply throughout the country unless home care agencies have greater success recruiting and retaining caregivers. In this HMA white paper, … Read More