State Spotlight: Massachusetts’ Cutting-Edge Health Equity Initiatives
This state spotlight highlights the investments and efforts that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is making to promote health equity in and through the state’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), otherwise known as MassHealth. With the highest coverage rate in the nation, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has made great strides in ensuring access to healthcare for low-income residents and is now paving the way to reduce racial and ethnic disparities experienced by Medicaid and CHIP enrollees. As described in the state spotlight, MassHealth’s multi-pronged health equity strategy focuses on five cross-cutting areas: community engagement; social drivers of health; continuous enrollment; perinatal health; and provider and health plan incentives.
Conducting Eligibility Redeterminations at the Individual Level: State Diagnostic Assessment Tool
Early unwinding-related renewal data shows that many states have low ex parte renewal rates and high procedural termination rates. One contributing factor that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and states have identified is that some states are conducting ex parte renewal processes at the household level, rather than at the individual level, as required by federal regulations. This diagnostic assessment tool is designed to assist states in assessing whether they are conducting ex parte and other renewal processes at the individual level in accordance with federal regulatory requirements.
Paid Media Insights for State-Based Marketplace Outreach
On Tuesday, September 5, State Health and Value Strategies hosted a webinar to discuss today’s paid media landscape and changing consumer consumption patterns as State-Based Marketplaces (SBMs) prepare for open enrollment. During the webinar, experts from GMMB facilitated a discussion for SBMs to adapt outreach strategies to the evolving landscape. The discussion included the latest trends in the space and recommendations for SBMs on how to develop an effective modernized media campaign and reach audiences with multicultural targeting, social advertising and other tactics.
Call Center Strategies to Support Unwinding: State Toolkit
Medicaid, CHIP, Marketplace and integrated human services call centers are experiencing a surge in the number of callers seeking information about their health coverage with the end of the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement. In some states, high call volume is translating into long wait times and high rates of call abandonment, adversely affecting Medicaid and CHIP enrollees who rely on the call center as a critical source of assistance and support. Recognizing the crucial role of call centers in supporting enrollees throughout the eligibility and enrollment process, states can use this toolkit to identify opportunities and explore strategies to improve call center functionality.
Leveraging Buying Value to Advance Health Equity Measurement
On Tuesday, August 1, State Health and Value Strategies hosted a webinar showcasing how the Buying Value suite of resources can help states, employers, consumer organizations and providers implement quality measures to incentivize high-quality, high-value, equitable healthcare. The webinar highlighted two free, Excel-based tools, the Buying Value Measure Selection Tool and the Buying Value Benchmark Repository.
Medicaid Managed Care Approaches to Confront Mental Health Inequities
On Thursday, July 27, State Health and Value Strategies (SHVS), hosted a webinar highlighting the recently published issue brief, Medicaid Managed Care Strategies to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in Mental Healthcare for Adults, which describes approaches that states can take to reduce racial and ethnic inequities in mental healthcare and improve mental health outcomes. The webinar was facilitated by experts from Bailit Health and will include a discussion with experts from Health Equity Solutions and a state official on their activities to promote equity in mental healthcare.
Medicaid Managed Care Strategies to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in Mental Healthcare for Adults
Medicaid programs are uniquely positioned to promote greater equity in mental healthcare, as the program plays an outsized role in the financing and delivery of mental healthcare. The issue brief identifies four approaches states can use to leverage their Medicaid managed care programs to advance their health equity goals. The brief also provides state examples to further illustrate how each approach has been implemented.
Highlights of the State Health Equity Measure Set: Measures to Assess and Improve Equity
On Thursday, June 29, State Health and Value Strategies hosted a webinar highlighting the recently published State Health Equity Measure Set, which introduces a curated set of existing health equity measures in areas where consumers experience disparate outcomes. States can use the Measure Set to assess how their performance on the measures varies by race and ethnicity and compare it to the performance of other states. The webinar was facilitated by experts from Bailit Health and included a question and answer session with state representatives from the advisory group that informed the development of the measure set.
State Health Equity Measure Set
The State Health Equity Measure Set provides a standard set of health equity measures that states can use to assess their performance against other states, and inform interventions that strive to improve equity in healthcare access and outcomes within their state. The State Health Equity Measure Set includes 10 population-level measures, which gauge health status, and 19 healthcare measures, which evaluate receipt of, and outcomes associated with, evidence-based health services. All measures have been tested and are in use by national measurement bodies. The Measure Set provides states with the resources to inform policies and program interventions that are focused on reducing disparities in healthcare access, care delivery, and health outcomes for people of color.
CMS Proposed Rules Part 3: HCBS Program Changes
On Monday, June 12, State Health and Value Strategies hosted a webinar that focused specifically on key reforms that CMS has proposed for Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) included in the “Access Proposed Rule.” During the third webinar in this three part series, experts from Manatt Health provided an overview of the provisions to enhance access to HCBS, standardize quality measures and reporting requirements, and address longstanding shortages in the direct care workforce. Presenters also highlighted areas where CMS is requesting comment (due July 3, 2023) and reviewed considerations for state officials.