Dear Colleagues,
I am excited to join CMCS as the Acting Director for the Intergovernmental and External Affairs Group as well as the Acting Director for the Division of State and Stakeholder Relations. I am joining CMCS from the Atlanta regional office as the Associate Regional Administrator for Medicaid and CHIP.
I am looking forward to partnering with you to continue our goal in supporting innovative approaches to improving quality, accessibility and affordability for our patients.
Thank you for your dedication and all that you do!
Jackie Glaze
Recent Releases and Announcements
MBES VIII Group Enrollment and Expenditure Data
Today the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released updated Medicaid enrollment data and preliminary expenditure data that states reported to CMS through the Medicaid Budget and Expenditure System (MBES).
The enrollment information is a state-reported count of unduplicated individuals enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program at any time during each month in the quarterly reporting period and includes updated enrollment data from October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016. The enrollment data identifies the total number of Medicaid enrollees and, for states that have expanded Medicaid, provides specific counts for the number of individuals enrolled in the new adult eligibility group, also referred to as the “VIII Group”.
The preliminary expenditure data provides summary level data associated with Medicaid service expenditures reported by states on the Form CMS-64 in MBES for the period October 1, 2015 – March 31, 2016. The data includes a breakout of expenditures associated with individuals in the VIII Group. In addition to the new information presented in today’s report, the posting includes updated expenditure data for the period January 1, 2014 –September 30, 2015.
UPDATE: Behavioral Health Summit Announcement
Due to the overwhelming interest in our previously announced Behavioral Health Summit that will be held at CMS headquarters on September 8th, the in-person registration has reached its capacity. However, we wanted to share a new link so people would have the opportunity to participate remotely.
As noted in the July 27th SOTA announcement, this Summit will provide valuable public discussion and ideas for the Innovation Center to explore potential payment model and care delivery options in the future. The CMS Innovation Center Behavioral Health Summit aims to bring together community health organizations, medical societies, patient advocacy groups, government and non-government agencies, and other interested parties to discuss ideas for a behavioral health model to improve access, quality, and cost of care for beneficiaries with behavioral health conditions by sharing experiences in behavioral health payment and care delivery related to the following topics:
- Substance use disorders
- Mental health and medical comorbidities
- Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias
- Behavioral health workforce challenges
Dates: Meeting Date: This meeting will be held at 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Friday, September 8, 2017. This meeting is open to the public. Meeting Registration: Individuals must register online in order to participate remotely.
Upcoming Peer Learning Session
Technical Assistance for States in Application of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Requirements to Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs
Registration for Peer Learning Session 5: Common Issues in the NQTL Analysis
Topic: This peer learning session is designed to help states better understand the process of conducting an NQTL analysis for parity compliance. States will have the opportunity to share their key challenges, strengths, and strategies in relation to their NQTL analysis.
Overview of Peer Learning Sessions: Peer learning sessions are moderated, virtual sessions that provide an opportunity for states to share key challenges and strategies, and to problem-solve with peers. Parity experts will facilitate peer learning sessions and answer questions, but active state participation is expected.
CMS staff will not attend peer learning sessions, and no information discussed on these calls will be used for compliance or enforcement purposes. Group facilitators will provide to CMS a high-level summary of states’ challenges, questions, and strategies after each session; however, states will not be identified by name or other identifying details.
Registration: Pre-registration is necessary. To allow for a small group experience, participation in each group will be capped. States with multiple attendees are requested to coordinate to register for one time slot per state. We will confirm your registration and send pre-session exercises and recommended resources for review.
Please use the following links to register for one of the following sessions.
- Session 5a : Tuesday, August 22, 2017 22 1:00 – 2:30 pm ET
- Session 5b : Thursday, August 24, 2017 3:00 to 4:30 pm ET
Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP)
Register Now : Using Geospatial Statistics to Analyze Medicaid Data National Learning Webinar (August 31, 2017)
To assist Medicaid and CHIP agencies, CMS’s Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP) will host a state learning webinar on Thursday, August 31st from 3:00 – 4:00 PM ET on the fundamentals of geospatial analysis. This webinar will provide an overview of geospatial statistics with a focus on how to evaluate map-based data analyses. In this interactive webinar, states will learn about several geospatial techniques and tools, including:
- Map types and usage;
- Key questions to ask when evaluating a map;
- Descriptive versus inferential modeling; and
- Hotspotting in health care.
Additionally, a guest speaker from the Camden Coalition will discuss how they use hotspotting to identify, target, and evaluate interventions in ways that are relevant to Medicaid. In addition to their work in Camden, they will discuss how they partner to analyze data in other communities across the country.
Comment Now: Measures that Address Key Quality Issues in each of the Four IAP Program Areas (Due August 21, 2017)
The National Quality Forum, under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), convened a multi-stakeholder Coordinating Committee and four Technical Expert Panels -- one for each priority area of the Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP) -- to identify the most relevant, existing measures for each of the following areas:
- Reducing Substance Use Disorders
- Improving Care for Medicaid Beneficiaries with Complex Care Needs and High Costs;
- Promoting Community Integration through Long-Term Services and Supports; and
- Supporting Physical and Mental Health Integration.
These measures will serve as a resource for state Medicaid agencies developing measurement strategies for their related delivery system reform efforts. The draft report is open for public comment from July 21, 2017-August 21, 2017. To access the draft report or to submit a comment, visit NQF’s webpage.
Upcoming Calls and Webinars
CMS Retail Price Survey - National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) Overview and Help Desk Operations
This webinar will review the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) files, along with going over Myers and Stauffer's Help Desk operations.
Thursday, August 17 2017 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm ET
Audio option #1: 1-844-396-8222 Participant Code: 904 577 718
Audio option #2 and webinar