Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 1PM – 2PM ET – There’s no way to sugarcoat it. The Republican Party scored a major victory over the Democrats in this month’s Midterm elections – with important implications for the future of healthcare reform. During this webinar, Kaiser News Network and former NPR correspondent Julie Rovner will assess the likely impact of this important election on key components of the Affordable Care Act, including Marketplace enrollment, Medicaid expansion, delivery system reform, and the political environment that has proponents and opponents of the law in bitter conflict. The session will be moderated by Jack Meyer, who is a managing principal in the Washington, DC, office of Health Management Associates.
The current episode of On the Horizon focuses on transitions from correctional facilities back to the community. A recent Pew report has estimated that at least 95% of individuals in state prisons eventually leave, and more than half a million of these individuals leave in a typical year. Many of these individuals have a chronic disease, and their successful re-entry into the community is dependent on a seamless healthcare transition. Additionally, with the Medicaid expansion in more than 30 states, there is now a healthcare program for many individuals upon release. Carol Clancy, Principal of HMA’s San Francisco office, discusses key aspects of transitioning back to the community, including what states and Medicaid managed care plans can do to improve healthcare transitions from correctional facilities to the community.
The year 2014 has been nothing short of historic for Medicaid. Grabbing the headlines has been the record enrollment growth under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which offers states the option of expanding eligibility to childless adults for the first time ever. But there’s much more to the story than that.
Medicaid is in the process of transforming itself from a program that simply pays medical bills to one that focuses on value, high quality, care coordination and health outcomes. While the majority of states have opted to expand Medicaid under the ACA, even more have implemented payment and delivery system reforms including medical homes, Accountable Care Organizations, medical and behavioral health integration efforts, and greater reliance on managed care for traditional Medicaid enrollees as well as dual eligibles, long-term care recipients and people with chronic illnesses.
Capturing the scope of these dramatic changes is the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 14th annual 50-state Medicaid budget survey: Medicaid in an Era of Health and Delivery System Reform, conducted with Health Management Associates and with the cooperation of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. During this webinar, co-authors Vern Smith, Kathy Gifford and Eileen Ellis will highlight the survey’s findings and provide perspective on what it all means for the future of Medicaid.
