HHS-Prososed Rules for State Flexibility and Innovative Practices to Improve Medicaid

On April 14, 2011 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced several new rules that give states flexibilty to improve Medicaid and provide innovative practices.

HHS announced four initiatives to help states coordinated better care while reducing costs to states and families:

• Fifteen states will receive federal funding, up to $1 million, to develop better ways to coordinate care for the 9 million Americans with Medicare and Medicaid coverage (dual eligibles) who often have complex and costly health care needs;
• All 50 states will receive increased flexibility to provide home and community-based services for more people living with disabilities (proposed rule, CMS-2296-P);
• All 50 states are eligible to receive additional money to streamline information technology systems to modernize Medicaid enrollment leading up to the health benefit exchanges in 2014 ( Proposed rule, CMS-2346-F) and;
• A proposal by the state of New Jersey for flexibility to expand health coverage for nearly 70,000 low-income residents has been approved.

The 15 states that will receive dual-eligible funds are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.