Senior Policy Analyst Ian Stockwell, MA, in conjunction with staff from the Maryland Department of Aging and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, presented at the 27th National Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Conference. This presentation discussed HCBS beginnings and momentum, including advocacy and costs, HCBS waivers, Aging and Disability Resource Centers (ADRCs), and Money Follows the Person (MFP); data and metrics to build community-based services; and using metrics to move forward. Stockwell focused on Hilltop’s research on utilization and expenditures of both institutional services and HCBS in Maryland, as well as on the Quality of Life Survey Hilltop conducted, to discuss how metrics were used and how they can be used going forward.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires states to either establish and operate a Health Insurance Exchange by 2014 or participate in the federal Exchange. On April 12, 2011, Governor O’Malley signed the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange Act of 2011, which established Maryland’s Exchange as an independent unit of the state government. The Act also established a Board of Trustees to oversee the Exchange. The Hilltop Institute was commissioned to develop a series of background papers in order to assist the Board in planning for the implementation of Maryland’s Exchange.This presentation, delivered by Hilltop Hospital Community Benefit Program Director Donna Folkemer, MA, discusses the background paper on Navigator programs.
This report describes the services The Hilltop Institute provided to the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) under the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding between Hilltop and DHMH. The report covers state fiscal year 2011 (July 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011). Hilltop’s interdisciplinary staff provided a wide range of services, including: Medicaid program development and policy analysis; HealthChoice program support, evaluation, and financial analysis; long-term services and supports program development, policy analysis, and financial analytics; and data management and web-accessible database development.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires states to either establish and operate a Health Insurance Exchange by 2014 or participate in the federal Exchange. On April 12, 2011, Governor O’Malley signed the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange Act of 2011, which established Maryland’s Exchange as an independent unit of the state government. The Act also established a Board of Trustees to oversee the Exchange. The Hilltop Institute was commissioned to develop a series of background papers in order to assist the Board in planning for the implementation of Maryland’s Exchange.This paper provides background information on health plan contracting to the Maryland Exchange Board Advisory Committee and to provide foundational support for the analysis conducted by the vendor selected to perform the study. This report first provides an overview of health plan certification under the ACA and associated regulations recently proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It then describes Maryland’s individual and small group health insurance markets; the Maryland Insurance Administration’s premium rate review process; the non-selective form of contracting currently used by Maryland’s HealthChoice program; and the procurement process employed by the Maryland Department of Budget and Management to select health benefit plans offered to Maryland state employees, retirees, and their dependents.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires states to either establish and operate a Health Insurance Exchange by 2014 or participate in the federal Exchange. On April 12, 2011, Governor O’Malley signed the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange Act of 2011, which established Maryland’s Exchange as an independent unit of the state government. The Act also established a Board of Trustees to oversee the Exchange. The Hilltop Institute was commissioned to develop a series of background papers in order to assist the Board in planning for the implementation of Maryland’s Exchange.This paper provides some basic background on how the health insurance market as a whole may respond to the collection of regulatory and structural changes that are envisioned under the ACA. It focuses first on the nature of and implications for adverse selection effects that may skew health plan enrollment, both inside and outside an Exchange. The paper includes a brief description of the insurance market in Maryland to establish a sense of the scale of participation inside and outside Maryland’s Exchange. This paper also introduces key components of ACA regulation that are intended to mitigate the financial risk for carriers operating within an Exchange in order to help provide a context for the collection of facets that Maryland will need to consider as its Exchange is established.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires states to either establish and operate a Health Insurance Exchange by 2014 or participate in the federal Exchange. On April 12, 2011, Governor O’Malley signed the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange Act of 2011, which established Maryland’s Exchange as an independent unit of the state government. The Act also established a Board of Trustees to oversee the Exchange. The Hilltop Institute was commissioned to develop a series of background papers in order to assist the Board in planning for the implementation of Maryland’s Exchange.This background paper provides information on Navigator programs that, as defined by the ACA, provide public education and awareness about, distribute fair and impartial information about, and facilitate enrollment in qualified health plans. The background paper is also intended to provide foundational support for a formal study conducted on the design and operation of the Exchange’s Navigator Program and other appropriate consumer assistance mechanisms.
The Hilltop Institute conducted a literature review on pathways to Medicare-Medicaid eligibility at the request of the Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office (MMCO) within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This work was performed under Task Order RTOP CMS-10-022 awarded to Thomson Reuters (Healthcare), Inc., in 2010.Hilltop also prepared New Medicare-Medicaid Enrollees in Maryland: Demographic and Programmatic Characteristics and New Medicare-Medicaid Enrollees in Maryland: Prior Medicare and Medicaid Resource Use.
Hilltop has performed contractual services for the New Mexico Human Services Department (HSD) since 2004. Hilltop’s work with HSD is supported by a memorandum of understanding (MOU). This report presents Hilltop’s activities and accomplishments for fiscal year (FY) 2011 through this MOU.
This report, which was presented at the Long-Term Care Interest Group Colloquium at the June 2011 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in Seattle, Washington, discusses progress in rebalancing Medicaid long-term services and supports (LTSS) spending, how the Affordable Care Act can support states’ continued efforts to rebalance LTSS, and opportunities for future research to support continued system transformation.To access the presentation on this topic, click here.
At the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM), Hilltop Director of Long-Term Services and Supports Cynthia H. Woodcock, MBA, and Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Deputy Secretary of Finance and former Hilltop Executive Director Charles J. Milligan, Jr., JD, MPH, presented this keynote address at the Long-Term Care Colloquium. Woodcock and Milligan presented highlights from their invited paper focusing on the success, to date, of rebalancing long-term care toward community settings and the implications of provisions in the Affordable Care Act for future rebalancing efforts.To access the invited paper, click here.