Policy alerts, briefs, letters & papers

This brief highlights Part D plan (PDP) availability. In 2023, the average number of PDPs available to beneficiaries is 24, up one from 2022. A total of 801 PDPs will be offered in the U.S., ranging from 19 in New York to 28 in Arizona.

This brief describes Medicare Advantage (MA) plan offerings in 2023. Of note, the average number of MA plans available to Medicare beneficiaries in 2023 is 43 compared to an average of 38 plans in 2022. Beneficiaries in 27 counties in the U.S. can choose from 75 or more MA plans.

ADvancing States, with support of the National Council on Aging or NCOA, is pleased to release an issue brief on the NWD System initiative describing the fundamentals of NWD Systems and state partnerships with community-based organizations.

ASTDD has shared a new collection of resources, Older Adult Oral Health Resources for Collaboration. This resource was developed by a workgroup consisting of individuals from state public health programs, academia, and clinicians caring for older adults in a variety of settings. It includes information on the link between oral health and overall health, oral health and chronic disease, special populations, ventilator and non-ventilator pneumonia, nutrition, financing routine dental care, information for non-dental providers, teledentistry and equity.

This brief includes a checklist of eight key questions that can help state purchasers and other payers develop a robust payment and spending strategy focused on advancing health equity. Each question includes concrete state examples for adopting health equity-focused payment methods. This brief is a product of Advancing Health Equity, a national initiative supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that is working with states to pursue payment innovations that support health equity.

This brief explores design considerations and policy levers Medicaid agencies may consider for encouraging uptake of tech-enabled innovation within Medicaid managed care. The brief is a product of the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative, which brings together Medicaid programs, their managed care plans, and other stakeholders to spread tech innovations that can improve the health of Medicaid populations. The collaborative is led by Acumen America, Adaptation Health, and the Center for Health Care Strategies and supported by The MolinaCares Accord, CommonSpirit Health, and Hopelab.

This brief highlights key provisions of the federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, recently signed into law by President Biden. The law includes several provisions to lower prescription drug costs for people with Medicare and reduce drug spending by the federal government, beginning in 2023. This brief examines the potential impact of these provisions for Medicare beneficiaries nationally and by state.

On Monday, August 22, 2022 CMS released the Money Follows the Person (MFP): Updated State Transitions annual report for calendar years 2017 to 2020. The MFP demonstration, established by Congress through the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, enables state Medicaid programs to help Medicaid beneficiaries who live in institutions transition into the community, and gives people with disabilities and older adults more choice in deciding where to live and to receive long-term services and supports. From the time transitions began in 2008 to the end of 2020, states had transitioned 107,128 people to community living through MFP. The brief shows how MFP transitions varied by state and target population over time.

This brief highlights key lessons to inform data-sharing partnerships between community-based organizations, state agencies, and individuals with lived expertise. Lessons draw from the experiences of participants in Learning and Action in Policy and Partnerships, a national initiative supporting community-based data-sharing efforts led by Data Across Sectors for Health in partnership with the Center for Health Care Strategies through support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Patient and staff-reported measures are a key way to assess the quality and experience of care for people with complex needs. CHCS worked with health care organizations to test new measures for understanding patient and staff experiences related to well-being, equity, goals of care, and care integration. This brief explores insights from the Center for the Urban Child and Healthy Family at Boston Medical Center, Hill Country Community Clinic, and Denver Health, which used these measures to assess quality within their organizations.