Blog
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Medicaid and the 988 Mental Health Crisis Services Lifeline: State Approaches
Last month, the new three-digit mental health crisis and suicide prevention number – 988 – went live for call, text, and chat. Established by the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020, this easy to remember number is meant to support people experiencing suicidal ideation, mental health and substance use crises, or any kind of…
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Waiver Update: CMS May Have Found a Path Forward in Tennessee
The Biden CMS inherited a real waiver mess in Tennessee, but CMS may have found a path forward. CMS has asked the state to amend the most problematic parts of its section 1115 demonstration known as TennCare III, so that the TennCare program can continue. Just as importantly, to its credit (and unlike some other…
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CMS Awards Over $49 Million to 36 Organizations in 20 States to Connect Kids, Parents, and Pregnant People to Coverage
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), recently awarded $49 million to 36 organizations in 20 states to provide enrollment and renewal assistance to children, their families, and pregnant people. These grants will allow a wide range of organizations, including state and local governments,…
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Bipartisan Safer Communities Act Provision Directs CMS to Review State EPSDT Implementation, including in Managed Care
Last month my colleague Anne Dwyer summarized the now-enacted Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and its provisions with potential to boost access to mental health services for children and families. One we will be watching closely: a review of state Medicaid EPSDT requirements, services, and practices. Long time Say Ahhh! Readers know that Medicaid’s Early Periodic…
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Transparency in Medicaid Managed Care: Are the Times A-Changin’?
If the phrase “transparency in Medicaid managed care” sounds like an oxymoron, that’s because in many states it is. Finding information on the performance of individual Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs) for children and families and other Medicaid beneficiaries on state Medicaid agency websites can be challenging. This is more than unfortunate because in the…
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Vermont’s Section 1115 Demonstration: Medicaid Managed Care Meets Single Payer
Vermont is one of ten states that don’t use risk-based Medicaid managed care. It’s not that Vermont isn’t interested in risk-based managed care. The state is very interested—so long as it is the managed care organization (MCO). The state made its case to CMS in its application to extend its section 1115 demonstration beyond June…
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Bipartisan Safer Communities Act Greenlights Updated School-Based Medicaid Guidance, TA Center and Grant Funding
On June 25, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law. While a high-level overview of the legislation has previously been detailed on SayAhhh!, with the language now enacted into law, we thought it would be helpful to drill down into more detail on the provisions relating to Medicaid and CHIP and school-based…
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New Brief: Postpartum Medicaid Extension An Opportunity to Improve Maternal and Child Health, But Impact Limited Without Medicaid Expansion
The U.S. is facing a worsening maternal mortality crisis that disproportionately affects pregnant people of color, and research suggests that the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the constitutional protection of access to safe and legal abortions could further exacerbate current racial, economic and social inequities in maternal and infant…
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Mississippi Center for Justice Presents CCF with Distinguished Partner Award
Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF) received the Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ) Distinguished Partner Award last month. During the award’s ceremony, MCJ Health Law Director Linda Dixon commended CCF for its collaborative style, expertise, and willingness to go the extra mile. “The Mississippi Center for Justice is grateful for our longstanding partnership…
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An Advocate’s Guide to Medicaid Managed Care Procurement
2022 is a big year for Medicaid managed care procurements. Procurements are already underway in California, Iowa, and Nebraska with awards scheduled to be announced in August. New Mexico is scheduled to launch its procurement in September, and three more states — Florida, Georgia, and Texas — are expected to issue Requests for Proposals (RFPs)…
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Infants Covered by Medicaid and CHIP Likely Hardest Hit by Formula Shortage, WIC a Key Resource
Before newborns can try solid foods, breastmilk or infant formula are the sole sources of nutrition to keep them fed. This is why the infant formula shortage has added yet another layer of stress on families with infants. As many families continue to struggle to access formula, a new brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation…
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New Urban Institute Analysis Underscores Importance of Continuous Medicaid Coverage Protection for Kids
A new brief out this week from The Urban Institute confirms what we have suspected — the Medicaid continuous coverage provision has halted the increase in uninsured children that we saw during the Trump years. (As SayAhhh! readers know, no one can be involuntarily disenrolled during the federally declared public health emergency as a consequence…
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Biden Administration Releases Badly Needed Maternal Mortality Strategy as Dobbs Decision Could Worsen Crisis
The U.S. is in the midst of a maternal mortality crisis: rates of maternal death are rising and Black women continue to die from pregnancy-related causes at more than twice the national average. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to allow states to ban abortion could make the maternal…
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New Data from CMS Shows Mental Health Services for Children Continue to Lag Behind Pre-Pandemic Levels
This week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an update to its Medicaid and CHIP COVID-19 data snapshot with new data through January 2022. Unfortunately, as highlighted in the snapshot, while the number of mental health services provided to adults during the public health emergency nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, the rate…
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South Dakota’s Journey to Medicaid Expansion: An Update
South Dakota is still on track to close its Medicaid coverage gap. Voters in the state are set to decide whether to expand Medicaid through ballot initiative this November. Legislators opposed to expansion, recognizing the success of ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid in other states, made an attempt to prevent expansion – but this ended…
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Senate Releases Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, Includes Medicaid Mental Health Provisions
[Editor’s Note: The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act has since passed the Senate and the House and was signed into law by the President on Saturday, June 25th.] As we wrote about last week, the Senate has been actively working to advance an agreement on a gun safety bill that includes a number of provisions related to mental health.…
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Congress Focuses on Mental Health, Medicaid Gains Attention
This week has been a busy one on Capitol Hill as it relates to congressional efforts on mental health. On Sunday, a bipartisan group of twenty Senators announced they had reached an agreement on a framework related to gun safety including investments in child and family mental health services. On Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee…
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New Georgetown CHIR Case Study Report Examines Policies to Expand Primary Care Access in Rural New Mexico
By Maanasa Kona, Jalisa Clark, Megan Houston, and Emma Walsh-Alker with the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms Primary care is a critical tool to prevent illness and death and to improve the equitable distribution of health care in populations. However, access to this important source of care is lacking, especially for many underserved…
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White House Enlists Broad Range of Programs, Partners to Connect Youngest Children to COVID Vaccines
Many parents are anxiously awaiting approval of the COVID vaccine for children under age 5. Once approved, the vaccines will close the final gap in vaccine access so that Americans of all ages can get immunized. As we wait for final approvals, the Biden Administration has been at work shoring up a range of partners…
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CMS Gives States an Extra Year to Spend ARPA Home and Community-Based Services Funds
As we’ve previously written about here on Say Ahhh!, the American Rescue Plan included a number of provisions providing new opportunities for state Medicaid programs including temporary funding to enhance, expand, and strengthen home and community-based services for individuals covered by Medicaid. Under a CMS announcement made last week, states now have an extra year…
