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HMA Insights: Your source for healthcare news, ideas and analysis.

HMA Insights 鈥� including our new podcast 鈥� puts the vast depth of HMA鈥檚 expertise at your fingertips, helping you stay informed about the latest healthcare trends and topics. Below, you can easily search based on your topic of interest to find useful information from our podcast, blogs, webinars, case studies, reports and more.

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81 Results found.

Brief & Report

HMA Community Strategies conducts evaluation for the city of Los Angeles FamilySource System

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Systemic health disparities have exposed Los Angeles鈥� racially and ethnically diverse populations to increased risks of economic hardship, educational underachievement, and housing instability. To better understand this imbalance and drive toward change, the City of Los Angeles (the City), through Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Community Service Block Grants (CSBG) and General Funds established the FamilySource System (FSS), a place-based program, to address disparities, prevent and alleviate poverty, increase equity, and better coordinate support for these communities. The purpose of the FSS is to provide a myriad of braided social, educational, work and family support services designed to assist low-income families to become more self-sufficient by increasing family income and academic achievement for youth and adults.

HMA Community Strategies conducted this evaluation of the FamilySource System and economic impact study to identify key trends, barriers, and interventions that could better illuminate disparities in Los Angeles and move to greater income, education, and housing equity.

Contributions to this report were made by Charles Robbins, MBA (project director), Megan Beers, PhD, Ryan Maganini, Matthew Ward, and Yamini Narayan.

Brief & Report

New report highlights hybrid (in-person & virtual visits) as the future of child welfare service delivery

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During the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), the federal government waived the requirement for 鈥渙nce every 30 days鈥� in-person visits by caseworkers for children in foster care, allowing these visits to occur virtually. In 2021, commissioned 黑料网 (HMA) to evaluate the delivery of virtual child welfare services and outline the implications of the COVID-19 PHE on the child welfare system.听 The report 鈥淓valuating the Delivery of Virtual Child Welfare Services鈥� is now available. It summarizes HMA鈥檚 findings and elevates the voices of staff in public and private child welfare agencies, and of youth and families with lived experiences, and examines their perspectives on how well virtual services have worked. It also details the implications of the COVID-19 PHE, the response from public child welfare agencies, and offers guidance on a hybrid (part in-person, part virtual) service model, which we believe will continue to be a factor in the future delivery of child welfare services.

As the COVID-19 PHE accelerated the spread and scale of telehealth adoption in health care, we surmised that the experience offered valuable opportunities to learn more about how the health care sector鈥檚 adoption of telehealth services could be applied in the child welfare community. While cognizant of the unique considerations for child welfare, this disruption also represents a substantial opportunity to rethink the child welfare system and advance both the use of technology as well as a more prevention- and strengths-based approach to child welfare.

The report highlights innovative approaches in the field, offers questions to frame a jurisdiction鈥檚 decision-making process, and provides a tool to facilitate an informed decision on the hybrid model. The report also offers a broader value proposition that outlines policy, practice, workforce, and technology imperatives to develop a hybrid approach to the delivery of child welfare services.

Please complete the form in this link to access a copy of the report and the tools and recommendations offered.

Brief & Report

HMA conducts assessment of unmet mental health needs of people living with HIV in Los Angeles County

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HMA Community Strategies conducted an assessment of unmet mental health needs of people living with HIV in Los Angeles County. The study aimed to understand behavioral health service utilization and the role that facility staff and institutional structures play in charting the trajectory of clients. The assessment includes the breadth of experiences and perspectives represented by each facet of the delivery system to inform stakeholders and funders of the best approach for future success.

Brief & Report

The 22nd annual Medicaid budget survey released: pandemic continues to shape priorities

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The 22nd annual Medicaid Budget Survey conducted by The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and 黑料网 (HMA) was released on October 25, 2022, in the report: How the Pandemic Continues to Shape Medicaid Priorities: Results from an Annual Medicaid Budget Survey for State Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023.

The report was prepared by听Kathleen Giff颅ord,听Aimee Lashbrook, and Matt Wimmer from HMA; Mike Nardone; and by Elizabeth Hinton, Madeline Guth, Jada Raphael,听Sweta Haldar, and Robin Rudowitz from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD).

Brief & Report

System integration across child welfare, behavioral health, and Medicaid

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Children and families involved in the behavioral health and child welfare systems are often the most vulnerable and in need of intensive supports. Fragmented systems of care across child welfare, behavioral health, and Medicaid often cause families 鈥渢o fall through the cracks,鈥� leading to increased use of high-cost services that separate families and results in poorer outcomes.听 These siloed approaches perpetuate and exacerbate trauma to children and families. In the second in a series of briefs focused on enhancing the youth behavioral health system, the HMA team of Uma Ahluwalia, Caitlin Thomas-Henkel, Roxanne Kennedy, and Courtney Thompson propose four core design elements 鈥� and related KPIs 鈥� for establishing a high-functioning integrated system of care for children, youth, and their families, child welfare, Medicaid, and behavioral health systems.

Brief & Report

HMA consultants author Well Being Trust brief, “Naloxone for Overdose Reversal: Challenges and Opportunities”

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Efforts to reduce America鈥檚 opioid-related overdose deaths are being hampered by glaring inconsistencies in U.S. policies and practices from one region, health system, and community to another. So states a new Well Being Trust brief, 鈥淣aloxone for Overdose Reversal: Challenges and Opportunities,鈥� written by HMA consultants Barry Jacobs and Helena Whitney, released September 15, 2022. The 10-page, intensively researched report also makes four policy recommendations calling for easier access to naloxone for providers and consumers, as well as more consistent naloxone prescribing and community distribution practices throughout the country.

Brief & Report

Bolstering the youth behavioral health system: innovative state policies to address access & parity

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With 1 in 5 children experiencing a mental health condition every year and only 54 percent of non-institutionalized youth enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP receiving mental health treatment, the HMA team of Caitlin Thomas-Henkel, Uma Ahluwalia, Devon Schechinger and Debbi Witham have authored the first in a series of briefs focused on enhancing the youth behavioral health system. This brief, Bolstering the Youth Behavioral Health System: Innovative State Policies to Address Access & Parity, explores state policy levers to advance access and availability of behavioral health services (encompassing mental health and substance use disorders) for youth.

Brief & Report

HMA series of issue briefs outline Medicare savings proposals

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In a series of issue briefs outlining Medicare savings proposals, Jennifer Podulka examines federal budget pressures and impending insolvency of the Medicare Trust Fund that will require Congress to choose between reducing provider or Medicare Advantage plan payments, increasing dedicated income, modifying beneficiary cost sharing, or some combination of these options.

Successful Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center models, temporary regulatory flexibilities implemented in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, and other recent Medicare policy changes inform new savings options for policymakers to consider.

The issue briefs were prepared for and will be used to drive discussion and planning.听 Five novel Medicare savings proposals include:

Expand the Successful Home Health Value-Based Purchasing Model to Providers that Report Similar Quality Measures听

Medicare Coverage of Drugs That Receive FDA Accelerated Approval听

Ensure that Medicare Beneficiaries have Access to the Successful Diabetes Prevention Program听

Options for Adjusting Medicare Advantage Benchmarks and Quality Bonuses to Achieve Program Savings听

Addressing Medicare Trust Fund Solvency听

 

 

Brief & Report

Edrington Health Consulting, an HMA company authors “Investing in Primary Care: Why it Matters for Californians with Medi-Cal Coverage”

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California Health Care Foundation released a new study authored by the Edrington Health Consulting, an HMA company, Investing in Primary Care: Why it Matters for Californians with Medi-Cal Coverage, that highlights the critical role primary care plays for patients in Medi-Cal. The study encompasses 5.4 million Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal managed care, or nearly half of all Medi-Cal enrollees in 2019, and finds greater investment in primary care is generally associated with better quality of care, patient experience, and plan rating. Furthermore, the study provides an 听important baseline for understanding how greater investment in primary care can improve quality and equity; this is particularly important as California expands Medi-Cal to include all income-eligible Californians, regardless of immigration status. This analysis comes as California is taking significant steps toward ensuring primary care teams, including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, community health workers, behavioral health staff and others play a greater role in the health care delivery system.

Brief & Report

HMA and National Council for Mental Wellbeing release issue brief on diversity in the behavioral health workforce

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The third issue brief, in a series by HMA and National Council colleagues that examines the workforce crisis facing the country鈥檚 behavioral health system, highlights the access and service delivery challenges presented and exacerbated by health disparities and inequities.

The brief focuses on the need to recruit, train, and retain a diverse workforce in order to reduce behavioral health disparities and engage populations with historic and structural disparities, in order to build trust with providers and in the overall healthcare system.

Outlining challenges and actionable solutions, the brief points to the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) model as an opportunity for states and provider organizations to partner and address health disparities and social determinates of health for underserved and marginalized populations.

Additional briefs in this series are Behavioral Health Workforce is a National Crisis: Immediate Policy Actions for States and Immediate Policy Actions to Address the National Workforce Shortage and Improve Care

The following HMA colleagues contributed to this series: Uma Ahluwalia, Heidi Arthur, Angela Bergefurd, Cammie Cantrell, Nora Carreras, Suzanne Daub, Gina Eckart, Gina Lasky, Juliet Marsala, Emma Martino, Sandra Oxley, Deb Peartree, Erica Reaves, and Doris Tolliver.

Brief & Report

Learning from COVID-19-related flexibilities: moving toward more person-centered Medicare and Medicaid programs

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A new person-centered assessment framework and issue brief, authored by HMA experts in conjunction with Manatt Health, examine the temporary regulatory Medicare and Medicaid flexibilities implemented during the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) and aimed at ensuring access to care for older adults and people with chronic conditions and disabilities.

As these temporary flexibilities are currently set to expire in April 2022, the report provides insight and guidance for policymakers as they assess the impact these regulatory policy changes are having on advancing person- and community-centered care and consider possible permanence of these changes.

The framework is designed to help facilitate these conversations and decisions and assess the potential for continuation of the regulatory flexibilities to advance person- and community-centered care, facilitate access to care in the least intensive or least restrictive setting, and better align Medicare and Medicaid program rules.

HMA colleagues Jennifer Podulka, Yamini Narayan, and Keyan Javadi contributed to the framework and research.

Brief & Report

Issue brief examines greater flexibility for primary care models

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An issue brief released today outlines new Medicare payment models that offer greater flexibility and aim to shift more care to primary care models, moves that can improve quality and reduce costs. HMA authors, Jennifer Podulka, Yamini Narayan, and Lynea Holmes found the two newest primary care payment models, Global and Professional Direct Contracting (which will be re-branded as Accountable Care Organization Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (ACO REACH) beginning January 1, 2023) and Primary Care First offer more flexibility than previously released approaches and represent a promising step forward for primary care.

The report, , also notes that to increase the likelihood that models achieve overall cost savings and/or quality improvement, one option for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation is to test approaches that place greater value on primary care and give primary care providers greater flexibility to tailor care for people outside of a fee-for-service system. These changes could improve people鈥檚 access to care, the quality of care received, and quality of life.