Issue Briefs , Webinars | Apr 2, 2014

Realizing Rural Care Coordination: Considerations and Action Steps for State Policy-Makers

Michael Stanek, Carrie Hanlon, and Tess Shiras

Better coordination of patient care is an increasingly important part of not only advanced primary care models but also of broader strategies to create shared accountability across providers and care settings. States seeking to promote care coordination, either within Medicaid or through participation in multipayer initiatives, will run into long-standing challenges to delivering care and promoting health in rural areas. Rural areas often experience disparities in access to care, health status, and available infrastructure relative to their urban counterparts. Any strategy to coordinate care that aims to operate statewide or target rural areas must consider the needs of rural communities. This issue brief draws from the experiences of six states, Alabama, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Vermont, to identify common policy considerations and action steps for coordinating care in rural environments.

To view the webinar slides that correspond to this resource, click here.


Expert Perspectives

February 1, 2023

CMS Approves First-in-Nation Justice-Involved Re-Entry Section 1115 Demonstration

On January 26, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services approved California’s request to amend the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal Section 1115 demonstration. This expert perspective describes the amendment, a centerpiece of which is approval for California Medicaid to provide a targeted set of Medicaid services to youth and adults in state prisons, county jails, and youth correctional facilities for up to 90 days prior to release. By providing re-entry services to Medicaid-enrolled individuals who are incarcerated, California aims to build a bridge to community-based care for justice-involved enrollees, offering them services to stabilize their physical and behavioral health conditions and establishing, prior to release, a re-entry plan for their community-based care.

January 27, 2023

Federal Ruling Provides Text Messaging Flexibility to Support State’s Unwinding Efforts

On January 23, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission issued an important ruling that provides states with new flexibility to support enrollee outreach and communication efforts as part of their processes to unwind the Medicaid continuous coverage requirement. The ruling permits state agencies and their partners to send text messages and make phone calls to individuals about enrollment-related issues not only for Medicaid but for other state-run health insurance programs, including marketplace coverage. This expert perspective reviews the ruling and implications for states.