Today’s health committee meeting at the
CSG/ERC annual
meeting in Baltimore featured updates from NY and CT about what is working
in state Medicaid programs, and an update from CMMI on what’s next for the
State Innovation Model program. Sen. Terry Gerratana moderated the panel that
included Asm. Richard Gottfried (NY), Olivia Puckett (MAPOC) and Clare Wrobel
(CMMI). Asm. Gottfried described NY’s Medicaid
program that covers 5 million people and spends over $50 billion each year. 92%
of children and adults and 43% of seniors and people with disabilities were in
a managed care plan last year. Now NY is planning to expand managed care further
with delivery system reforms and a fund to protect safety net providers. Olivia
Puckett described CT’s Medicaid innovations including the successful
person-centered medical home, Intensive Care Management, OB Pay for
Performance, and dental health programs. Clare Wrobel described the SIM grant
goals to help states use their levers and engage across payers and programs to
improve population health, transform health care delivery and expand
value-based payment models. She described the work of the six current test
grant states – VT, AR, ME, MA, OR, and MN. She also described some themes from
the Model Design and Pre-Test State SIM plans and CMS’s process for awarding
Test Grants in the next round. All speakers echoed Clare’s last take-away
message – it’s a long journey; this is just the beginning.
