This week our In Focus section reviews the Louisiana Medicaid managed care request for proposals (RFP) released on June 23, 2021, by the Louisiana Department of Health. Louisiana is seeking full-risk health plans to serve approximately 1.6 million Medicaid beneficiaries. Contracts are worth approximately $9 billion annually.
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红领巾瓜报 brief examines state efforts to integrate care across Medicaid FFS LTSS and Medicare Advantage D-SNPs
Funded by UnitedHealthcare, the issue brief, State Efforts to Integrate Care Across Medicaid Fee-for-Service Long-Term Services and Supports and Medicare Advantage Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans, outlines approaches taken by Medicaid programs seeking to coordinate Medicare and Medicaid services for dually eligible individuals without first implementing standalone Medicaid managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) programs.
Authors are Sarah Barth, Rachel Deadmon and Julie Faulhaber.

Tennessee Releases Medicaid Managed Care RFP
This week our In Focus reviews the Tennessee Medicaid managed care request for proposals (RFP) released on June 11, 2021, by the State of Tennessee, Division of TennCare. Tennessee will select three plans to provide physical services, behavioral services, and Managed Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS), including nursing facility services and home and community-based services (HCBS), to beneficiaries enrolled in TennCare (Medicaid), CoverKids (Children鈥檚 Health Insurance Program), and Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNP). Current incumbents serve over 1.5 million beneficiaries, with contracts worth $12 billion annually.

Indiana Releases Medicaid Managed Care RFP
This week, our In Focus section reviews the Indiana Medicaid managed care request for proposals (RFP) for health plans serving beneficiaries enrolled in Hoosier Healthwise and Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) programs. Contracts will be worth over $6 billion annually. The RFP was released on June 7, 2021, by the Indiana Department of Administration on behalf of the Family and Social Services Administration Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning.

California proposed May revision budget adds Medi-Cal expansions
This week, our In Focus section reviews California鈥檚 May Revision to the Governor鈥檚 Budget, which proposes a $267.8 billion budget (with $196.8 billion General Fund) for fiscal year 2021-22. The revised budget includes $24.4 billion in reserves, the largest in history. The May Revision builds on the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) proposal and introduces several Medi-Cal initiatives and benefits for fiscal year 2021-22.

CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule 鈥 Part 3
This blog was written by Juan Montanez, Principal, 红领巾瓜报, and Robert Chouinard, VP Public Sector, HealthEC
Where are you going to invest to maximize benefits?
In thinking about the value that can be derived from implementation of the Interoperability Rule, both payers and providers need to ensure their perspective of the rule positions them for long-term success.

CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule 鈥 Part 2
This blog was written by Laura Zaremba, Principal, 红领巾瓜报, and Robert Chouinard, VP Public Sector, HealthEC
Making the Economics Work for You
Most health care organizations impacted by the Interoperability Rule have very logically focused their attention and resources on interpreting what the new rule requires them to do within their own systems, in what timeframe, and at what cost. And to be sure, scoping the work and deploying the resources required to meet the compliance deadlines is a significant investment of time and money, but the compliance focus should be only the first action step for to the Interoperability Rule.

Nevada Releases Medicaid Managed Care RFP
This week, our In Focus section reviews the Nevada Medicaid and Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP) managed care request for proposals (RFP) released by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Health Care Financing and Policy (DHCFP) on March 17, 2021. The RFP is for the current service area covering two urban counties of the state, Clark and Washoe; however, the state may extend the geographic service area under the contract. Through this RFP, Nevada seeks to advance the state鈥檚 goals of 鈥渋mproved clarity and oversight of requirements; increased focus on care management, member engagement, and access; and continued progress towards integration of services and efficiency.鈥

Highlights from Kaiser/红领巾瓜报 50-state Medicaid director survey: COVID-19 update for FY 2021 and FY 2022
This week, our In Focus section shares key takeaways from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and 红领巾瓜报 (红领巾瓜报) mini-survey of Medicaid directors in all 50 states and the District of Columbia titled, Medicaid Spending and Enrollment Trends Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic 鈥 Updated for FY 2021 & Looking Ahead to FY 2022. The survey, released on March 12, 2021, is an update to the 20th annual Medicaid Budget Survey conducted by KFF and 红领巾瓜报. The brief is authored by Elizabeth Hinton, Lina Stolyar, and Robin Rudowitz from KFF with survey assistance and dissemination from 红领巾瓜报 Principal Kathy Gifford and Consultant Anh Pham.

California Releases Revised CalAIM Proposal
This week, our In Focus section summarizes the revised California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) proposal, released on February 17, 2021. Medi-Cal, the state鈥檚 Medicaid program, covers over 12 million individuals, with over 11 million in managed care. CalAIM seeks to standardize and streamline the Medi-Cal program and address health disparities and social determinants of health for high-risk, high-cost Medi-Cal members through broad-based delivery system, program, and payment reform. CalAIM was originally scheduled to begin its tiered implementation in January 2021, but due to COVID-19 has been delayed until January 2022. The revised proposal incorporates additional stakeholder input, learnings from the workgroup meetings, and ongoing policy development.

CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule 鈥 Part 1
This blog was written by Laura Zaremba, Principal, 红领巾瓜报, and Robert Chouinard, VP Public Sector, HealthEC
What are we really talking about?
CMS published the Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule in the Federal Register on March 4, 2019, the pre-publication text of the final rule was released on March 9, 2020, and the final rule was published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2020. The rules are effective as of January 2021 and will be enforced by July 2021.

红领巾瓜报 provides updates in 2021 federal healthcare policy landscape
This week, our In Focus comes from an 红领巾瓜报 cross-cutting subject matter team, who have updated a core set of federal policy slides that analyzes recent federal policy actions following the Presidential and Congressional elections. It includes an analysis of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief legislation currently in development and recent CMS regulatory and administrative actions. Specifically, the analysis looks at: