NEWS

Biden Administration Partners with Eight States and DC to Address Homelessness

• The Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have selected eight states and the District of Columbia (DC) to launch the “Housing and Services Partnership Accelerator” program to address homelessness. On February 9, the Biden Administration announced that they will be working with Arizona, California, DC, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Washington. To apply for the program, states had to form interdisciplinary teams across health, housing, aging, and disability sectors and provide information on the status of implementing Medicaid-covered housing supports, and their goals for the program. Over the next 12 months HUD and HHS will provide intensive technical assistance to support these programs. The projects will be run by the Medicaid agency in all states but Massachusetts, where the program will be led by a housing agency with assistance from the Medicaid agency. States that were not selected for the program had until February 13 to apply to the National Academy for State Health Policy’s Health and Housing Institute (HHI) for technical assistance (CMS, February 9; Inside Health Policy, February 9).

CMS Releases Updated Vaccine Toolkit

• On February 12, CMS released an updated Medicaid, CHIP, and Basic Health Program (BHP) Vaccine Toolkit. The updated toolkit includes a compilation of vaccination policies, including flexibilities and coverage and payment requirements for states as they transition from the COVID-19 public health emergency and start to implement Inflation Reduction Act coverage requirements. The toolkit also includes considerations for states to enhance vaccination coverage and access (CMS, February 12).

Medicaid Enrollment Down Almost 10 Million Halfway Through Unwinding

• According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), estimates compiled from state-level data show that states have removed over 16 million people from Medicaid since last April. While many beneficiaries no longer qualify because of growing incomes, millions of enrollees have been disenrolled from Medicaid coverage for procedural reasons. Simultaneously, millions of others have reenrolled or signed up for Medicaid for the first time. These changes have resulted in overall enrollment falling by about 9.5 million from the record high reached last April. This puts Medicaid and CHIP enrollment on track for ending the unwinding period with numbers that look similar to the beginning of the pandemic: about 71 million total enrollees (Modern Healthcare, February 7).

CMS Releases Quality Improvement Tools to Improve Behavioral Health Follow-Up Care

• Medicaid and CHIP are the largest payers of mental health services in the U.S. and nearly 40% of Medicaid/CHIP beneficiaries experience mental illness and/or Substance Use Disorder (SUD). Research has shown that timely follow-up care for behavioral health can improve long-term outcomes. Following the Improving Behavioral Health Follow-Up Care learning collaborative webinar series in 2021, CMS released a set of quality improvement (QI) tools to help improve follow-up care for behavioral health. The technical assistance in the QI tools includes approaches to getting started, a driver diagram and change table, measures for quality improvement, and specific state examples (Medicaid.gov, February 13).

Federal Regulation

CMS Releases Updated Medicaid and CHIP Telehealth Toolkit

• On February 8, CMS released an updated Telehealth Toolkit for state Medicaid programs and CHIP. Should states opt in to delivering Medicaid and CHIP services through telehealth, they can utilize this toolkit to better understand the policies and requirements within the following areas: coverage and reimbursement policies, providers and practitioners eligible to provide telehealth, technology requirements, considerations for specific populations, and state examples and strategies. Additionally, the updated toolkit contains information to educate states on available telehealth platforms, how to navigate telehealth after a public health emergency, how to ensure an accessible, value-based, and culturally competent level of care when utilizing telehealth, and resources for both providers and beneficiaries (Medicaid.gov, February 8).

Stakeholders Oppose CMS Proposal to Shift VCI Costs to States

• CMS is proposing to shift the costs of verifying income for Medicaid/CHIP eligibility from the agency to states starting July 1. The National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) opposes the proposal, citing fiscal challenges and misalignment with the Biden administration’s goals. Other stakeholders agree with NAMD and urge CMS to reconsider the proposal, citing the ongoing Medicaid unwinding process in many states. NAMD suggests that Congress should increase funding to CMS and the Federal Data Hub and keep the income verification process costs with CMS. However, CMS argues that Verify Current Income (VCI) data falls under state functions, justifying the cost of the shift. States consider this proposal ill-timed with the budgeting process and may stop or decrease the use of VCI services if the proposal advances. California highlighted the significant impact this proposal has on their annual budget, with the new estimated state share coming in at around $9 million (Inside Health Policy, February 7).