Thank you to everyone who participated in the IAP Substance Use Disorder (SUD) webinar on November 7th. The goal of the webinar was to provide states with details on the upcoming High-Intensity Learning Collaborative as well as additional opportunities to participate in the SUD initiative. The slides (PDF, 627.98 KB) from the webinar are now available on our IAP landing page, along with our recently released Informational Bulletin (PDF, 112.92 KB) on SUD.
We encourage senior Medicaid officials in states that are interested in participating in the IAP-SUD to submit an expression of interest (ZIP, 16.73 KB) form, even if you are not yet certain that you are ready to join the High-Intensity Learning Collaborative. The expression of interest form is very brief, and indicates interest in the IAP-SUD without creating a binding commitment to participate.
Upon receipt of an expression of interest form from a State Medicaid Director, we will schedule an “office hours” call to discuss your objectives and CMS’s expectations for participation. States are encouraged to invite officials from the Medicaid agency and the state agency for substance abuse to join this office hours session. We look forward to engaging in conversations about the specific topics that states would like to address, anticipated opportunities and obstacles, and promising strategies for states to improve the delivery of SUD treatments and services. These conversations will inform our High-Intensity Learning Collaborative curriculum and the targeted learning modules, and will help us identify which IAP-SUD learning opportunity is best suited to meet the state’s needs.
The Expression of Interest forms are due by November 21st, and office hours with interested states will be scheduled from November 24th to December 9th. The High-Intensity Learning Collaborative kickoff is planned for early January 2015, with targeted learning modules expected to begin later in the spring. Stay tuned for information about new channels of activities to address other topic areas through the IAP. As always, we welcome your feedback and questions – send an email to MedicaidIAP@cms.hhs.gov.