 |
|||
| The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System | August 2007 | ||
|
In this issue: |
|||
In Arizona, we face a serious challenge in terms of uninsured children. The challenge consists of finding and enrolling the estimated 130,000 uninsured children who are eligible for current health coverage such as KidsCare, not to mention retaining the 65,000 children already enrolled in KidsCare. Arizona's children clearly need health care coverage and Arizona's SCHIP program has been successful in serving otherwise uninsured kids. Governor Napolitano has continued to advocate for SCHIP and Arizona's children. The Governor recently challenged health care and community advocates to work with her to help reduce the number of uninsured children in Arizona. AHCCCS received funding to implement a statewide KidsCare Outreach campaign this fiscal year and will launch it in the coming months. We hope you will partner with us to enroll more children into available coverage options, and continue to challenge those who wish to keep children from seeing doctors and getting the health care they need to learn and live well.
Anthony D. Rodgers |
|||
2007 State Budget Highlights for
AHCCCS
|
|||
|
New Dental Benefit for ALTCS members The 2007-2008 State Budget, passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Napolitano, includes funding for a new dental program available to Arizona Long Term Care System (ALTCS) members. This program, effective October 1, 2007, will cover dental services up to a maximum of $1000 per year. The new dental benefits will include preventive and restorative services such as cleanings and fillings. Each AHCCCS ALTCS Health Plan will administer the new dental benefits for their enrolled members. Current dental benefits related to emergency dental services and medically necessary dentures will continue. For more specific information about new dental benefits, ALTCS members may contact their health plan. |
Income limits to increase for women and children eligible for Medicaid through SOBRA
On June 25, 2007 Governor Janet Napolitano signed House Bill (HB) 2789 which included an increase to the income limit to the AHCCCS SOBRA (Sixth Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) program. SOBRA provides medical coverage to pregnant women and children up to the age of 19 years old.
The income limit for a woman who qualifies for Medicaid through SOBRA will be increased from 133% to 150% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
The new income limit will be effective October 1, 2007 pending approval from the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Pregnant women should call 1-800-833-4642 or visit www.babyarizona.gov for more information about applying for Medicaid through SOBRA. |
||
AHCCCS Brings stakeholders together to discuss
KidsCare Outreach Organizations from across the state gathered at the KidsCare Outreach Roundtable on August 10, 2007 to discuss the design of AHCCCS' upcoming KidsCare Outreach Campaign. More than 100 key health care, community, government, public health, and faith leaders were joined by Governor Janet Napolitano who kicked-off the day by energizing the audience about how to approach outreach, "We need to empower parents and tell them, 'You can do this!' 'You can do this right now. You can get this done for your child." The Governor then called the audience to action, "How we do outreach...how we bring the most children, as quickly as possible, who already qualify for KidsCare into KidsCare, is the challenge you have before you today!" After hearing the Governor, national and local experts
provided presentations about proven strategies to educate,
enroll, and retain low-income children in state health care coverage.
All participants spent the afternoon in discussion sessions and provided AHCCCS
with their visions for the outreach campaign, strategy suggestions, and most
importantly, their organization's commitment to partner with
the state to raise awareness about KidsCare. For questions or more information about KidsCare Outreach, contact AHCCCS
Community Relations Administrator, Gina Flores, gina.flores@azahcccs.gov.
|
|||
|
New AHCCCS Application Process at DES AHCCCS and The Department of Economic Security (DES) are pleased to announce an upcoming change to the AHCCCS health insurance application process. This new process will eliminate the mandatory in-person interview, therefore removing a barrier from applying for AHCCCS. DES will launch the new process, termed "Customer Contact" as early as October 2007. Currently, people applying for AHCCCS Health Insurance through DES are required to complete a scheduled face-to-face or telephonic interview at their local DES office. The new "Customer Contact" process will allow DES to gather and verify eligibility criteria through innovative practices other than the formal face-to-face interview. The new process calls for a DES Eligibility Specialist to review a submitted Application for AHCCCS Health Insurance and the supporting documentation. If DES requires any additional documentation, the Eligibility Specialist will complete the "Customer Contact" via phone, email, or by mail*. If the application is complete and all documentation is present, the Eligibility Specialist will review the information, make an eligibility determination and mail a notice about the determination result. The process works best when the application is complete! When applying or renewing eligibility for AHCCCS coverage, applicants and community assistors should ensure every question is complete and all members of the household (16 years and older) sign the section titled, "Authorization to Release Information". The applicant can help facilitate the process even further by providing as much information and documentation as possible along with the completed application. DES piloted this new process around the state earlier this year and it was well received by both customers and DES staff. Results of the pilots include increased timeliness in eligibility determination as well as increased applicant satisfaction. DES will start phasing in the "Customer Contact" process into some rural offices in October 2007 and will implement the process in all offices by February 2008. * DES may still require an interview as needed to address discrepancies or issues that cannot be resolved in another way. The customer also has the right to request a face-to-face interview if preferred. |
|||
|
Last chance to submit input for Acute Care program AHCCCS is scheduled to release the Acute Care Request for Proposals in early 2008 for managed care contracts beginning October 1, 2008. AHCCCS is providing a forum for community input regarding the Acute Care Program in preparation of the upcoming contract solicitation. Although all comments submitted will be considered, due to federal and state regulations, all input received may not be able to be utilized. All comments must be received by AHCCCS no later than September 5, 2007, to be considered. As of June, 2007, the Acute Care Program provides a comprehensive array of health care services to approximately 1 million enrolled members through Medicaid (Title XIX) and the Title XXI, State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The majority of the Acute Care population includes children and pregnant women who are determined eligible for Medicaid. The majority of eligible Acute Care members receive their care through contracted AHCCCS health plans. AHCCCS Acute Care goal is to continuously improve effectiveness and support the delivery of the highest quality care to members. If you are interested in submitting comments, please send via email to: AcuteRFP09@azahcccs.gov or mail comments to: RFP Coordinator, AHCCCS, 701 E. Jefferson St., MD 6500, Phoenix, AZ 85034. Please find information regarding this release at http://www.azahcccs.gov/Contracting/. |
|||
|
HIeHR Utility Project Update Since the start of the Health Information Exchange/Electronic Health Record (HIeHR) Utility project in March, work has been focused in four main areas: I. Project Staffing: We have hired 7 of 10 positions for the AHCCCS project team, which will serve as the core knowledge and leadership for the project. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was released in March for contracting of additional skills, including technical architects, project managers, programmers and subject matter experts. The RFP was split into two sections: 1) Support of the discovery, planning, and architectural design of the project: and 2) Support of the detailed design, development, testing, pilot and rollout of the system. Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) was awarded the contract for part 1 and CSC has begun assisting with the planning, exploration and discovery, and high level architectural conceptualization. The project team kickoff was held on May 7. II. User Requirements Development: A key component of the planned system is the web-based tools doctors will use to interact with the AHCCCS members electronic health records. In order to have a dialog with doctors, the project team has developed high-level functional workflows to describe the behavior of the system. Using these high level requirements, AHCCCS will be able to solicit feedback and validate its ideas. The validated requirements will be used to select the technology we will use to implement the system. III. Technology Research: The project team continues to research the possible technology to build the HIE, EHR, and web based functionalities. The project vision is to use open source software solutions to enable low acquisition costs and ease of sharing our development with other Medicaid and non-profit organizations. AHCCCS has been visiting other similar initiatives as well as observing demonstrations of vendor products. The project team is evolving a concept on the technical architecture and plans on making selections by the end of the year. IV. Provider Relations: The success of the project rests primarily on the adoption of the system by AHCCCS health care providers. Early engagement with, and education of our health care providers is essential to developing the trust and understanding needed to foster successful adoption. To this end, we are planning to survey AHCCCS providers about their attitudes about acceptance and use of electronic health records. We will use the feedback to plan and hold a number of provider focus groups and workshops to share project plans, solicit feedback, educate, and seek interested and motivated partners to help with the training, testing, piloting and adoption. We are in the process of coordinating our efforts with the Arizona Health-E Connection to leverage the work we are all doing in learning about the climate of health care providers preferences for electronic health information, and intend to have a schedule of these events defined in the next few weeks. |
|||
|
AHCCCS enrollment snapshot |
Myth
vs. Truth: Facts about AHCCCS Myth:
AHCCCS members have no
personal responsibility for the cost of their care. |
||
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
AHCCCS Today is an e-newsletter published by AHCCCS Community Relations to inform the Arizona community about AHCCCS programs, partnerships, policy changes, and other data related to the AHCCCS mission: Reaching across Arizona to provide comprehensive, quality health care to those in need. AHCCCS is Arizona's Medicaid program. AHCCCS provides health care coverage to more than 1 million Arizonans.
Subscribe
to AHCCCS Today Visit AHCCCS on the Web: http://www.azahcccs.gov Copyright Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS). All Rights Reserved. |
|||
