Preparing to Implement the 12-Month Continuous Enrollment for Children Requirement
On Thursday, November 16, State Health and Value Strategies hosted a webinar on provisions included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (CAA) that require states to provide children up to age 19 with 12 months of continuous enrollment (CE) in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program starting January 1, 2024. During the webinar, experts from Manatt Health reviewed recent sub-regulatory guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and considerations for states as they prepare to newly take up CE for children or modify existing CE policies to meet the CAA requirement.
Issue Spotting Common Policy and Operational Barriers to Ex Parte Renewals: State Assessment Tool
Many states are actively working to make changes to their systems to enable ex parte renewals at the individual level and implement mitigation strategies to ensure eligible Medicaid and CHIP enrollees retain coverage until those system changes are complete. This tool is intended to: (1) help states identify common policies and/or operational processes that, if adjusted, could improve ex parte rates and renewal functionality, and (2) facilitate internal, cross-divisional Medicaid agency discussions across policy, operational, and information technology systems.
Protected: Addressing Health Equity: A Legal Roadmap for Policymakers
Addressing Health Equity: A Legal Roadmap for Policymakers aims to support state Medicaid policymakers working to address health inequities through state action.
Sample Social Media Messages for Open Enrollment
The open enrollment period (OEP) for health insurance Marketplaces will run from November 2023 to January 2024. This OEP will take place while most states are also conducting Medicaid renewals during the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement. State Health and Value Strategies has created sample messages and accompanying social media graphics to support states during the simultaneous Medicaid unwinding and open enrollment period.
Health Equity Measurement: Considerations for Selecting a Benchmark
As states look to advance health equity, they need ways to measure whether their efforts result in improvements. Benchmarking can be used to identify health disparities and establish a standard for evaluating efforts to address health inequities. This brief summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of four common approaches to health equity benchmarking: 1) Using the best-performing group as a reference; 2) using the most socially advantaged group as a reference; 3) comparing against a population average; and 4) comparing against a set target or goal.
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.