MLTSS Institute

The MLTSS institute is a collaboration between ADvancing States members and national Medicaid health plans intended to drive improvements in key MLTSS policy issues, facilitate sharing and learning among states, and provide direct and intensive technical assistance to states and health plans.

All three focus areas of the Institute include the common themes of: 1) building state agency capacity; 2) fostering innovation at the state level; and 3) providing a feedback loop to the federal policy dialogue.

ADvancing States and CHCS Release Brief on State Considerations for Dual Integration Programs

ADvancing States is pleased to announce the release of a new issue brief, Starting from Square One: Considerations for States Exploring Medicare-Medicaid Integration, developed in partnership with the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). This issue brief is the latest publication from the MLTSS Institute, which was established in 2016 to drive improvements in key MLTSS policy areas, facilitate sharing and learning among states, and provide direct and intensive technical assistance to states and health plans.   This issue brief is the second of three to be published in 2019-2020 focused on aspects of delivering effective care to individuals eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid (dually eligible beneficiaries). 

Only about 2/3 of states have undertaken any activity to better integrate care for dually eligible beneficiaries; many have encountered a number of barriers in pursuing better integration of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.  This issue brief identifies key questions that states should ask themselves before they design an integrated care program.  

These questions include:

• What are the characteristics and needs of the state’s dually eligible beneficiary population?
• What is the landscape of the state’s health care environment?
• How much stakeholder support for integration does the state have?
• What internal capacity is available to support integration efforts?
• What is the state’s approach to integration?

ADvancing States hopes that this issue brief will help state agencies take the first steps needed to bring the Medicare and Medicaid programs together for dually eligible beneficiaries in a thoughtful way.

ADvancing States held a webinar discussing this issue brief and our November issue brief “The Value of Integration to State Medicaid Agencies” on Thursday, May 28th. The slide deck and webinar recording are now available here.

State Consulting

As part of the MLTSS Institute, ADvancing States can provide intensive, state-specific consulting on a wide range of MLTSS issues.  These may include:

• Presentations to state leadership, legislators and providers on national MLTSS trends and implications for state agencies on implementation and oversight.
• Serving as a national subject matter expert in meetings with key advisory boards and taskforces in the community to chart short- and long-term planning objectives. 
• Reviewing and providing feedback on quality strategies/measures.
• Writing or editing state’s managed care authority documents (SPAs or waivers), MLTSS RFPs or MCO contracts.
• Developing and/or reviewing MCO readiness review tools and recommendations for addressing MLTSS program elements, including participation on readiness reviews if requested. 

MLTSS Institute Advisory Board Members: