 June 10, 2005 |
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Upcoming ACAP Calls
June 21: ACAP Safety Net Task Force June 29: CIO Roundtable (Note new call-in number) June 29: Program Committee June 30: Provider Relations Roundtable June 30: Best Practices Call on Improving Data Flow @ 2pm ET July 13: CMO Roundtable
Upcoming Events Calendar
 
ACAP Links
 
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| HIGHLIGHTS |
ACAP Policy and Advocacy Day ACAP will host a Policy and Advocacy Day for all Medicaid focused health plans on June 22nd in Washington, DC at the Wyndham Washington Hotel. This conference is offered at no charge to Medicaid focused plans. Participants will have an opportunity to hear from Congressional staff engaged in Medicaid negotiations as well as representatives from the National Governors' Association, the Washington office staff of individual governors who have taken a lead in Medicaid reform, state Medicaid Directors, CMS officials and other Medicaid health policy leaders. The agenda can be view at: http://www.communityplans.net/conf/Agenda%20031605.pdf.  |
| PUBLIC POLICY AND ADVOCACY |
Unlikely Allies Meet to Discuss the Uninsured The New York Times recently reported that a group of industry executives, union leaders, and trade associations have been meeting to discuss ways to provide health coverage to the uninsured. Representatives from Heritage Foundation, the United States Chamber of Commerce, AARP, the AFL-CIO, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, the BlueCross and BlueShield Association, Johnson & Johnson, the National Conference of State Legislatures, the National Governors Association, Pfizer and the Service Employees International Union. The group has not endorsed a specific plan yet but is working on trying to overcome ideological differences and develop pragmatic solutions via incremental change. ACAP Plan CEO Responds to Interest Group Coalition on the Uninsured In response to the New York Times article mentioned above, Georganne Chapin, president and CEO of Hudson Health Plan, wrote a letter to the editor. In her 6/5 letter to New York Times editor, Chapin writes that "[i]ncremental, patchwork solutions simply do not work," adding, "They are too expensive, confusing, wasteful and, worst of all, temporary." According to Chapin, the United States must "provide everyone with basic health care security, paid for by a single payer that can pool risk, define benefits, eliminate duplication, reduce administrative expenses, and guarantee payment to health care professionals and institutions" (New York Times, 6/5/05.) |
| EXCELLENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY |
Recap: CFO Roundtable On June 8, CFOs from ACAP plans met to discuss and compare use of their Board Finance committees. CFOs discussed Board composition, governance, functioning and staffing and agenda setting. As part of the discussion, CFOs agreed to share their Board Committee Charters. The Board Charters from Affinity, NHPRI, and CHPW are located in the Members Only section of our website, under Plan Documents. CFOs also reviewed the template for a survey of plan investment policies. This survey will be distributed over the summer and reported on at the October CFO Roundtable. Reminder: CIO Roundtable The next CIO Roundtable on June 29 at 3 pm Eastern time will discuss predictive modeling programs. CIOs will hear from three ACAP plans in various stages of implementation and evaluation of vendor-based predictive modeling programs. ACAP will also discuss various health care IT legislative proposals and seek comments/reaction from ACAP CIOs. Note: there is a Program Committee call scheduled at the same time as the CIO call. CIOs are asked to use the following call-in number and passcode: Call-in Number: 1-719-785-9416; Passcode: 538835 Reminder: Best Practices Call on Reviewing Data Flow to Improve Quality and Maximize Revenue Our next ACAP Best Practices call is June 30th at 2 pm Eastern time (Note this different from our usual schedule - 1 pm Central, 12 pm Mountain, 11 am Pacific, 8 am Hawaii). Gary Feldbau, MD, Medical Director, and Marsha Simmons, Clinic Process Consultant/Senior Project Manager, of Community Health Plan of Washington will discuss CHPW's ongoing initiatives to improve encounter data collection across its provider network. After working with consultants to identify key issues arising from clinic audits and physician interviews, CHPW developed a multi-faceted program to identify and resolve encounter data reporting problems. Plan staff work clinic by clinic to address specific challenges and to improve accuracy and timeliness of encounter data submission. Reminder: Provider Relations Roundtable The next Provider Relations Roundtable will be on June 30 at 3 pm Eastern time. On this call we will discuss Provider Evaluation tools. If you have an evaluation tool to share, please send to Peggy Oehlmann (poehlmann@communityplans.net). We will also discuss ACAP plan interest in sharing Provider Satisfaction Surveys. Please let Peggy know if there are other items to add to the agenda. Reminder: Chief Medical Officers Roundtable Our next CMO call is scheduled for July 13 at 3 pm Eastern time. The topic of the call will be behavioral health issues. ACAP medical directors will have an opportunity to compare carve-outs, vendor relationships, and efforts to integrate behavioral health care with physical health comorbidities. ACAP will also discuss various health care IT legislative proposals and seek comments/reaction from ACAP Medical Directors. Discussion questions will be posted on our website prior to the call. Please contact Peggy Oehlmann (poehlmann@communityplans.net) if you have questions to add to the discussion. |
| FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES & NEWS |
Community-Based Health Projects Local Initiative Funding Partners, a partnership program between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and local grantmakers, supports innovative, community-based projects designed to improve the health and healthcare for society's most vulnerable people. To be eligible for this program, projects must offer collaborative, community-based services that are new and innovative. Significant program expansions - such as a major expansion into new regions or to new populations - may also be considered. LIFP matching grants may not be used for the operation of existing programs. Visit the Local Initiative Funding Partners website for complete program information, application procedures, and details on conference calls for applicants interested in submitting brief proposals. Brief proposals are due June 30, 2005. Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program The Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program (CHLP) honors outstanding individuals who expand access to health care and social services to underserved and isolated populations. The program's goal is to elevate the work of its leaders through financial support, opportunities for growth and networking, and assistance raising awareness of their contributions. Community-based health providers and advocates in mid-career who have created or significantly improved health programs in local communities where healthcare needs have been ignored and unmet are eligible to be nominated. The award is $120,000: $105,000 for support of the leader's program and $15,000 as a personal stipend. Ten awards are made each year. Go to the Community Health Leadership Program's website at Third Sector New England for application guidelines. Letters of Intent are due September 22, 2005. |
| NEWSFLASH |
CMS Approves Second Drug Purchasing Pool The Washington Post recently reported that CMS approved a plan for Louisiana, Maryland and West Virginia to form a purchasing pool to buy prescription drugs for the states' combined 1.3 million Medicaid beneficiaries. The pool will be managed by Provider Synergies, a group based in Ohio. Officials from the states estimate the pool will result in annual savings of $27 million in Louisiana, $19 million in Maryland and $16 million in West Virginia. The plan is the second state drug purchasing pool approved by CMS. In April 2004, Alaska, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire and Vermont formed a pool with expected savings of $12 million (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/23/04). Study Finds New York SCHIP Program Helps Eliminate Racial Disparities in Health Care New York's Child Health Plus, the state's SCHIP program, helps eliminate some racial disparities in health care, according to a study published Monday in Pediatrics, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reports. Researchers from Golisano Children's Hospital surveyed parents of children enrolled in Child Health Plus shortly after their enrollment and again one year later. In the initial questioning, 86% of parents said their children had a place to go for medical care and 47% said their children regularly went to the same doctor's office or clinic. The first survey also found that white children were more likely to have a regular provider than children of other races. In the follow-up survey, 89% of parents said their children regularly went to the same provider and the racial gap had been eliminated. To access this story online go to: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=30543 |
| ANNOUNCEMENTS |
Maresca Heads to NACHC Andrea Maresca, formerly Program Associate with ACAP, recently made the move to the National Association for Community Health Centers. Ms. Maresca will be assuming the newly created position of Associate Director for Medicare/Medicaid Policy. She will be working closely with NACHC's federal and state affairs staff on the Medicare prescription drug program implementation, Medicaid waiver initiatives, and Medicaid reform policies. She worked for ACAP since the fall of 2004 and prior to that did stints with a health policy consulting firm and on Capitol Hill. ACAP Dinner at Medicaid Managed Care Congress As in prior years, ACAP will organize a dinner for ACAP plan staff attending the Medicaid Managed Care Congress in Baltimore. Dinner will be at 7:00 on Monday June 13 at the Charleston Restaurant. Those interested in attending should contact Meg Murray at mmurray@communityplans.net or 202-331-4601. |
| Upcoming Events |
June Events |
| Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat/Sun |
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1 |
2 Program Committee Call |
3 |
4/5 |
| 6 |
7 |
8 CFO Roundtable |
9 Executive Committee Call |
10 |
11/12 |
| 13 Medicaid Managed Care Conference |
14 Medicaid Managed Care Conference |
15 Medicaid Managed Care Conference |
16 |
17 |
18/19 |
| 20 |
21 ACAP Safety Net Task Force Meeting |
22 ACAP Policy and Advocacy Day |
23 ACAP Congressional Briefing |
24 |
25/26 |
| 27 |
28 |
29 CIO Roundtable (New call-in #) Program Committee Call |
30 Best Practices Call @ 2pm Provider Relations Roundtable |
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July Events |
| Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat/Sun |
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1 |
2/3 |
| 4 Independence Day |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9/10 |
| 11 |
12 |
13 CMO Roundtable |
14 |
15 |
16/17 |
| 18 |
19 Compliance Officers Roundtable |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23/24 |
| 25 |
26 Pharmacy Directors Roundtable |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30/31 |
| ACAP Mission: To improve the health of vulnerable populations through the support of Medicaid-focused community affiliated health plans committed to these populations and the providers who serve them. |
| James Hooley, Chairman | Margaret A. Murray, Executive Director, mmurray@communityplans.net, 202.331.4601 |
Association for Community Affiliated Plans 2001 L Street, NW, 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20036 http://www.communityplans.net Contact Us |