 July 20, 2007 |
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Upcoming ACAP Calls
No Staff Roundtables during August 2007 September 18: Medicare SNP Roundtable will be rescheduled to accommodate CMO/SNP Director Medicare Meeting September 20: Pharmacy Directors Roundtable
Upcoming Events Calendar
 
ACAP Links
 
ACAP Members
Affinity Health Plan Alameda Alliance for Health AlohaCare AmeriHealth Mercy Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan CareOregon CareSource Children's Mercy Family Health Partners Colorado Access Commonwealth Care Alliance Community Choice Health Plan Community Health Network of Connecticut Community Health Plan of Washington Contra Costa Health Plan Denver Health Health Plan of San Mateo Health Plus Health Right, Inc. Hudson Health Plan Keystone Mercy L.A. Care Health Plan MDWise Mercy Care Plan Monroe Plan for Medical Care, Inc. Neighborhood Health Plan Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island Network Health NJ Horizon Healthcare Prestige Health Choices Santa Clara Family Health Plan Total Care Virginia Premier |
| HIGHLIGHTS |
Bipartisan SCHIP Reauthorization Legislation Passes Senate Finance Committee After months of fits and starts and amid a Presidential veto threat, Congress finally appears ready to tackle the issue of reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The Senate Finance Committee was the first to act as they passed a $35B/5 year expansion of the SCHIP program on a vote of 17-4 this week. Although the package, drafted by Chairman Baucus, Ranking Member Grassley and Senators Hatch and Rockefeller, did not spend the full $50B allotted for under the Congressional Budget Resolution, it marked a significant increase over the $5B increase recommended by the President. Although the legislation did not include many of the provisions supported by ACAP, it does represent the only solution that could move out of the Committee on a bipartisan basis. The legislation does include several provisions that will impact MCOs directly, including quality reporting and oversight provisions and MCO restrictions (based on Section 1932 of the Medicaid law). Although details are not yet available, the SFC Mark seems to propose including most of this section in SCHIP statute, and so would impose new requirements on MCOs serving separate SCHIP program. These requirements include provision of certain information to enrollees, beneficiary protections (emergency services according to the prudent layperson standard), definitions of grievance and other procedures, certain quality standards, and state submission to the federal government of MCO external independent reviews. These requirements already exist for MCOs serving Medicaid programs, including SCHIP Medicaid expansion programs.) The sections also impose new protections against fraud and abuse and provide for sanctions of MCOs for noncompliance. For more detail, please see paragraphs (a)(5), (b), (c), (d) and (e) in section 1932 of the Social Security Act (Medicaid law) at http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title19/1932.htm.) President Bush has issued several veto threats against the package calling it “socialized medicine” and an unreasonable expansion in government health care. Democrats in the House of Representatives are currently pulling together their version of SCHIP reauthorization and it is expected to be released soon and include a $50B expansion of SCHIP, corrections for the Medicare physicians payments, cuts in MedicareAdvantage payments and an increase in the tobacco tax. While ACAP had been optimistic that our bill extending the Medicaid drug rebate to Medicaid health plans would be included, that optimism has waned as the House and the Senate has moved forward. Although ACAP was successful in getting the bill introduced in both the House and the Senate, PhRMA has been active on Capitol Hill and the chances of including the bill in the SCHIP reauthorization/Medicare physician payment legislation are getting slimmer. In the Senate, an early agreement between the Finance Committee negotiators precluded the inclusion of pharmaceutical offsets. During the Finance Committee markup, no less than 5 amendments submitted included the drug rebate extension as an offset for the larger amendment. Although none of these amendments were approved (in fact, in favor of getting the bill out of Committee, many amendments were withdrawn), it is still possible that the provision could be included in a floor amendment. ACAPers will recall that is how the drug rebate bill moved in the DRA a couple of years ago. ACAP will continue to work with Senator Bingaman to try to get this bill into conference. The House of Representatives remains a more perplexing situation. Over the past several years, the extension of the Medicaid drug rebate enjoyed the support of current Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell and ACAP had been confident that support, combined with the need to fund $100B in SCHIP and Medicare, would help to lift this bill into law this year. Unfortunately, as ACAP has been pushing the Stupak legislation as a funding offset, the Committee has been opposed to its inclusion. Although ACAP speculates that a similar agreement was made not to include pharmaceutical offsets in the House package, we have continued to look for other ways to get this legislation into the SCHIP package. Although the outlook as of press time looks bleak, ACAP is trying to take advantage of discontent among members who don’t want to offset SCHIP/Medicare programs with an increase in the tobacco tax. ACAP members need to continue their push on their Representatives if they want to lift the Stupak legislation into the House SCHIP reauthorization package. Two Pennsylvania Plans Join ACAP Amerihealth Mercy and Keystone Mercy both in Pennsylvania have joined ACAP. ACAP now has 34 member plans representing over 4 million Medicaid, SCHIP and Medicare beneficiaries. Amerihealth Mercy serves more than 90,000 Medicaid recipients in 15 counties in Western and Central Pennsylvania. Sherry Knowlton is the CEO. Amerihealth Mercy is a mission driven health care ministry of the Sisters of Mercy. Its parent partners are Mercy Health Systems and AmeriHealth First, a subsidiary of Independence Blue Cross. The plan received the highest accreditation status as "Excellent" by NCQA. Keystone Mercy Health Plan is Pennsylvania's largest Medicaid managed care health plan serving more than more than 273,000 Medical Assistance recipients in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Keystone Mercy Health Plan is a mission driven, health care ministry of the Sisters of Mercy. Its corporate parents are two not for profits, Mercy Health System (a Catholic hospital system) and Amerihealth First, a subsidiary of Independence Blue Cross. The CEO of Keystone Mercy is Anne Morrissey. |
| PUBLIC POLICY AND ADVOCACY |
Drug Rebate Expansion Act of 2007 Introduced in House by Rep. Stupak ACAP did score another win in our efforts to enact the Medicaid drug rebate bill. On Thursday, July 12th, Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI) introduced H.R. 3041, the companion bill to Senator Bingaman’s “Drug Rebate Equalization Act.” He has been joined by Representatives Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Danny Davis (D-IL). This legislation is the same as that introduced in the Senate and now gives ACAP the ability to promote this policy in both Houses of Congress. ACAP is calling on all our member plans to contact their Representatives and ask them to cosponsor the Drug Rebate Equalization Act.
ACAP Sharing Services
Community Catalyst
Publishes Paper in Support of Medicare SNPs That Truly Address Needs
of Special Needs Individuals In the members only section of our website, there are several areas that we want to remind you to look at periodically, including a large section of shared documents, which includes disaster recovery plans, compliance documents, job descriptions. We also have several surveys we have done of our plans. Community Catalyst has launched a project focused on Medicare SNPs with the overarching goal of educating and involving consumer organizations in the development and implementation of the Special Needs Plans provisions of the Medicare Modernization Act. One of their initial projects has been the development of a paper for federal decision-makers on policies related to Special Needs Plans. The title of the paper is Medicare Special Needs Plans: Overpayment Debate Ignores Need for Reform to Achieve Original Program Goals. This paper highlights that the current debate concerning Medicare Advantage overpayments ignores a critical distinction between categories of plans, most notably Medicare SNPs that provide coordinated care to chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries. The brief discusses how Medicare SNPs might provide this care to beneficiaries while also preventing hospitalizations and nursing home stays. It also suggests ways of ensuring SNPs are able to fulfill their original promise and at the same time increase accountability to Congress, CMS and the beneficiaries they serve. ACAP is pleased to be a reader for the new Community Catalyst project. Find out more about the project at http://www.communitycatalyst.org. |
| EXCELLENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY |
ACAP to Host Medicare SNP Meeting Focused on Care Management for ACAP CMOs and Medicare Directors ACAP will host its next Medicare SNP meeting on September 17th, 2007 in Washington DC for ACAP CMOs and Medicare Directors. The focus of the meeting is care management and models of care, and a draft agenda can be found by clicking here. Some of the proposed topics under consideration are:
We hope all CMOs, Medicare Directors, CEOs, policy staff, and other interested parties will join us in Washington. Click here to register for the event: www.regonline.com/140355
ACAP Job Bank
Recap: Policy
Roundtable, July 18, 2007 ACAP plans can post job announcements in our job bank. Please see our website for more details. You can email job announcements to Christina Boye at cboye@communityplans.net. ACAP held its second Policy Roundtable call of 2007. The bulk of the meeting was devoted to a thorough legislative update, including the introduction of the Senate Finance Committee’s (SFC) SCHIP reauthorization Chairman’s Mark and progress made on the Drug Rebate Expansion Act of 2007. Staff described Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization Act of 2007, including several provisions that will impact MCOs directly, including quality reporting and oversight provisions and MCO restrictions (based on current Medicaid law – see Highlights above) and a number of policy items, such as coverage of adults, promotion of premium assistance, mitigation of the citizenship documentation rule, and other issues. One plan asked how, if passed, the legislation would impact coverage of parents under title XXI, and it was discussed that the Mark includes some disincentives for states to continue covering this population. ACAP’s lobbyist then stated that Senator Bingaman (with five cosponsors) had introduced the Drug Rebate Equalization Act of 2007 in June 2007, including it as an offset to five amendments proposed for the SFC Mark, and that Representative Stupak (with three cosponsors) had introduced a companion bill in the House. ACAP staff expressed gratitude for the plans’ policy personnel who had lobbied their delegations very hard to promote the drug rebate bill. ACAP also described recent development of SNP Standards, catalyzed by the possibility that SCHIP reauthorization would be paid for with cuts to Medicare Advantage, and this would be coupled with an early and temporary reauthorization of the SNP program. The ACAP lobbyist also mentioned that, with the strong support of ACAP members, safety net health plans had gained inclusion and priority status for funding in the Senate HELP Committee’s health disparities bill, and in HELP’s health information technology legislation Roundtable participants were also reminded that ACAP is publishing two new, policy-relevant papers this week, including Assessment of Carve-In and Carve-Out Arrangements for Medicaid Prescription Drugs and Medicaid Health Plans: A Turnkey Solution for Expanding Health Insurance Coverage, Case Studies of California and Massachusetts. Lastly, staff mentioned the September 17-18 Legislative Fly-In in Washington, DC, and encouraged participants to attend. Recap: Provider Relations Roundtable, June 21, 2007 Participants in the Provider Relations Roundtable on June 21 discussed two issues. First, Ken Vinhateiro of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island led a discussion on contracting with ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), stating that some physician practices have developed surgical suites and are able to perform numerous surgeries on an outpatient basis. This is a positive move for several reasons: ASCs provide physicians additional flexibility and reimbursement, allow patients to return home faster than inpatient centers and recuperate in their home environment, and increase savings in facilities costs. It was mentioned that discussions of ASCs typically fall into two issue areas, first of the monopolies that often arise from physician groups developing ASCs, and second of the potential for decreased utilization among patients served by ASCs, both of which are potential “red flags” that plans should take care to notice. Several plans described their experiences with the appearance of seeming monopolies caused by the banding together of groups of providers or the purchase of most practices in an area by a corporate provider. This was most often seen among orthopedic surgeons, but also witnessed with neurologists and gastroenterologists. Plans did not indicate they had data to prove a problem with decreased utilization among patients served by ASCs, although they agreed that watching for negative trends was important. The second agenda item was a discussion of a study Medicaid Health Plans of America has invited ACAP to cosponsor of issues related to out-of-network provider payments. The paper would investigate disputes in terms of payment amounts between MCOs and out-of-network providers, and would detail the magnitude of the problem in terms of administrative burden and expense. It would also examine the consequences of set payment rates at different levels relative to Medicaid fee-for-service (i.e., out-of-network rates that are higher than Medicaid may discourage network participation, and rates that are lower may impact the willingness of providers to serve plan enrollees). Plans raised an additional and related issue, that for services not provided by plans, agreements are created with outside providers, and payment rates are often determined in advance. It was suggested that a change in law for all services mirroring the DRA provision that mandates Medicaid rates for out-of-network emergency room visits would protect health plans for services that it could otherwise provide in-network, but that it may negatively impact access for enrollees to out-of-network specialists that plans work with to provide services not otherwise covered in-network. Additional responses to the concept included difficulty defining the Medicaid rate for out-of-network and out-of-state services, the need to clarify with out-of-network providers that patients are indeed Medicaid enrollees and plans are safety net health plans, and the likelihood that providers have “core agreements” with hospitals to serve Medicaid enrollees but may not accept them directly. Recap: Quality Manager/Disease Management Roundtable, July 12, 2007 The focus of this roundtable was on weight management and obesity prevention, a topic now receiving worldwide attention. Carla Parkes, Director of Care Management at Community Choice Michigan, presented an overview of the plan’s weight management efforts. The development of many chronic illnesses and their complications (e.g. type 2 diabetes, hypertension, CAD, asthma, sleep apnea, and several others) are associated with obesity. The CCM program is aimed towards its members at risk for obesity and/or who have these related conditions in order to help them achieve optimal health. Based on body mass index measurement, the presence of co-morbidities, and the members’ readiness to change, CCM offers support and education through case management and the use of outreach specialists. Primary care physicians are integrally involved in developing a plan of care and making referrals to the weight management program. Members can also self-refer. CCM also provides coverage for services not mandated by the state of Michigan, such as YMCA membership, Weight Watchers, exercise/swimming classes, weight loss medications, and regular visits with a dietician. A common barrier experienced by CCM and other plans offering weight management programs is the lack of sustained member participation. Another barrier is the difficulty in collecting true outcomes measures that go beyond member self-report. Since weight loss and gain is so rife with negative implications and blame, there is a growing trend among the plans to emphasize lifestyle change as a whole. Small changes in food preparation, shopping, exercise and the like can be made gradually and sequentially based on each member’s own goals and choices. This supports strong patient empowerment. Plans participating on this roundtable expressed support for ACAP to contact Weight Watchers and delve into possible opportunities for offering discounts for member enrollment or other means of working together. ACAP will pursue this and report back to the plans. ACAP Benchmarking Opportunities ACAP has received an NCQA discount for the purchase of NCQA’s 2007 Quality Compass, Standard Edition with Data Exporter. ACAP and thirteen ACAP plans, with a total of 29 users, have subscribed to it. ACAP will cover the cost of the Quality Compass, and then recover that cost on a per user basis from each of the participating plans. Eleven ACAP plans are working with the Center for Health Care Strategies to collect 2005 and 2006 asthma benchmark data. A participant conference call was held on June 26 to review the protocols, data collection forms, and timelines. It was agreed that Medicaid and SCHIP data would be reported separately. The due date for data submission was extended to end of business on September 10, 2007. Eleven ACAP member health plans that independently submit CAHPS data to the National CAHPS Benchmarking Database (NCBD) or reside in states that are not submitting CAHPS data this year, have submitted their data this year. These plans will be included in the ACAP coalition report. See past acap analyses on our website at: http://www.communityplans.net/members/benchmark%20surveys.asp#CAHPS%20Surveys If you have any further questions regarding benchmarking, please contact Pat Barta at patbarta@communityplans.net |
| NEWSFLASH |
Meg Murray Appointed to Maryland Safety Net Commission Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley announced the appointment of Meg Murray, Executive Director of ACAP, to the 11-member Maryland Community Health Resource Commission. "I am proud that we are bringing professional, competent leadership to Maryland's Community Health Resource Commission," said Governor O'Malley. "This commission has important work to do to improve health care access for all Marylanders, and I look forward to their guidance as we expand medical coverage to more of Maryland's working families." Through operating and information technology grants, the commission assists community clinics that often serve as safety nets for un- and underinsured Marylanders in need of health care services. “Accessible and affordable care in the community not only makes for better outcomes for the patients, it also reduces demand for crowded hospital emergency rooms,” said John M. Colmers, Secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “Already the commission is collaborating with the department to provide significant grants to support access to dental care for the uninsured.” Ms. Murray was nominated by Salliann Alborn, CEO of Maryland Community Health System, an ACAP member. Meg Murray is a former Medicaid Director in New Jersey and is on the Board of the Owensville Primary Care Clinic in Southern Maryland. “Without universal insurance coverage in this country, “ Meg Murray said, “safety net clinics are a vital resource for medical care for the uninsured. I look forward to working with the Commission to strengthen these critical elements in my community.” Pam Morris Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 Award Winner in South Central Ohio & Kentucky Award Recognizes Entrepreneurial Excellence in Health Care Category CareSource Management Group, a leading Medicaid managed care services company, today announced that Pamela B. Morris, President and CEO, received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 Award in the Health Care category in South Central Ohio and Kentucky. According to Ernst & Young, the award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic, growing businesses. Morris was selected by an independent panel of judges and the awards were presented at an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year gala event at the Cincinnati Duke Energy Center on June 28, 2007. “I am extremely honored to receive this on behalf of our 700 employees, whose dedication to serving the underserved made this award possible,” said Morris. Morris pioneered Ohio’s first mandatory Medicaid managed care program in 1989, known as the Dayton Area Health Plan. Over the years, Morris has partnered with government regulators, social service agencies and health care providers to take groundbreaking steps to positively impact the Medicaid program. These alliances have led to changes in enrollment guidelines and the statewide expansion of Medicaid managed care in Ohio. Through constant reinforcement, a commitment to being a good steward of public monies, and leading by example, Morris has demonstrated that a company can be successful by staying true to its mission and listening to its customers. This understanding has led to a number of innovative programs, such as a free 24-hour nurse advice line and a prenatal health incentive program, both designed to better serve the health needs of the Medicaid population. The company’s accomplishments have laid the groundwork for extending the reach to other underserved populations. In 2008, CareSource Management Group will broaden its reach with CareSource Advantage and Community Choice Advantage, Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans for the dual eligible populations in Ohio and Michigan. As a South Central Ohio and Kentucky award winner, Morris is now eligible for consideration for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2007 national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the overall national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California on November 17, 2007. The overall national Entrepreneur Of The Year award recipient is then considered for the world event held in Monte Carlo. Peggy Oehlmann’s Babies Have Arrived Safe and Sound! On Monday July 9, 2007 Peggy gave birth to Colette Ann and Carter Joseph. Both were 5 lbs and 15 oz and everyone is doing great! Congratulations Peggy and Family! Best Wishes! Measuring Medicaid Performance: Chronic Care Beginning to Play Role in Emerging P4P Programs Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, headquartered in Providence, started focusing on quality improvement in 2000 by following HEDIS measures, looking at member satisfaction and incentivizing primary care sites for achieving certain accreditation and certification programs offered by JCAHO. Mark Reynolds, CEO, says that Neighborhood Health Plan would like to make money available to primary care sites, enabling them to change practice patterns to improve satisfaction. Falling into that category is reimbursement for health information technology, such as developing electronic medical records. "It is important for us to align physician incentives with our goals as a plan," he says. The Local Initiative Rewarding Results (LIRR) program, started in 2002, has tracked the effect of financial incentives on provider performance in seven California Medicaid managed care plans; each has chosen its own measures and payment methodologies. Six out of the seven plans are at or above the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) Medicaid national average for well-baby visits and four out of seven are at or above the HEDIS national average for adolescent visits. LIRR has already paid out $5 million to 3,300 physicians. In addition, some of the participating plans offered incentives to members, such as movie tickets and money, to encourage them to seek necessary care. More than half of all state Medicaid programs incorporate a financial incentive encouraging providers to deliver better quality care, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund. In addition, the study finds that 70% of existing Medicaid P4P programs operate in managed care or primary care management environments. Nine Medicaid programs are joining with other payers, employers and providers in statewide or regional P4P efforts, which is an indicator that the Medicaid plans are keeping pace with HMOs—half of which are offering P4P programs of their own. The primary focus of state Medicaid P4P programs is shifting from preventive care measures to quality and cost issues related to chronic disease management, while health information technology is becoming more integral to these programs. With 52 million beneficiaries, 60% of which are enrolled in managed care, Medicaid plans have clear opportunities in developing P4P programs. Tom Williams, executive director of the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA), probably the earliest adopter of all P4P programs in the commercial world, says getting physician buy-in for P4P in Medicaid is the first challenge. "You have to bring them to the table to design measures and let them have a say in decisions about the program," he says. According to the Commonwealth Fund report, the lack of proven effectiveness of Medicaid P4P is another big challenge. IHA recently received a planning grant of $900,000 from the California HealthCare Foundation to explore whether collaborative P4P efforts—similar to those that take place in the commercial environment—would make sense in Medicaid. Click here to access the entire article! Colorado Access SCHIP Program a Life Saver for Family The following article appeared in Rocky Mountain News by Bill Scanlon. The cost of keeping their daughter healthy was just about killing the Ortiz family of Denver. Angelina was just 9, but she was virtually blacklisted from private insurance rolls. Because she and her brother had a pre-existing condition - asthma - the cost of treating the chronic illness wouldn't be covered unless the family paid huge monthly premiums, Angelina's mother, Katrina Ortiz, said. Ortiz stays at home, partly to look after her daughter. Her husband, John, is a self-employed carpenter with a modest income. "We were paying $1,200 a month for her medications," Ortiz said. Then, about seven years ago, a nurse from Denver Public Schools told Ortiz about Colorado's Children's Health Plan Plus, medical coverage for kids of mainly working-class families. "By the grace of God we qualified," Ortiz said. They paid a fee of $35 to enroll. Now, they pay $12 a month for medications for Angelina, now 16, and Esteban, 18. The parents get care through Denver Health and Colorado's Indigent Care Program. The Ortizes make sure they stay within the CHIP+ income guidelines: If the household earns more than $41,304 a year, they're ineligible. Ortiz picked one of CHP+'s HMO options - Colorado Access - and praises the doctors. "It's very important for us to have Colorado Access for my children," Ortiz said. "If not, we would have gone bankrupt." She has just one complaint: While getting an appointment with the primary doctor is easy, it's sometimes a three-month wait to see a specialist. "When your child is hurting and you want the hurt to go away, you want that to happen fast," she said. Documenting Consumer-Directed Policy Approaches in Medicaid A national trend to engage consumers more effectively in health care decision making is making its mark on Medicaid. The movement is based on the idea that well-informed, engaged consumers can drive improvement in their own health status and in the health care system through the choices they make. In Medicaid, states are increasingly adopting strategies to involve consumers through cash and counseling programs, “consumer-directed” Medicaid models, and in care management and patient education programs. While it is still too early to determine how these consumer-directed approaches will work in the Medicaid population, three new publications from the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) explore how states are applying consumer-directed models. In the following papers, CHCS reports on a national survey examining state Medicaid consumer-directed policy approaches, reviews Idaho and Florida’s efforts to reward healthy behaviors, and summarizes the early policy and implementation lessons from the Florida and Idaho experience:
On Wednesday, July 25 at 1:00 pm EST, Chief Executive Officers of Safety Net Health Plans (not-for profit, community-based health plans serving public health programs) will host an audio conference to unveil a new comprehensive report on state strategies to expand health insurance coverage. The report, Medicaid Health Plans: A Turnkey Solution for Expanding Health Insurance Coverage for the Uninsured, focuses on California and Massachusetts-- two states that are breaking new ground toward expanding coverage to uninsured residents and attempting to set a trend for the rest of the nation to follow. These States have chosen to cover the low income uninsured by building on the successful platform of the Medicaid managed care plans as opposed to subsidizing the uninsureds’ purchase of commercial health insurance. At issue are how Massachusetts and California can stretch their resources and leverage successful strategies by using Medicaid health plans as turnkey operations to quickly, efficiently and economically provide coverage to low income persons who may be churning on and off the Medicaid rolls or have other family members who are on Medicaid. Subsidies for commercial coverage, on the other hand, do not address the cultural and linguistic needs of low income beneficiaries nor are commercial plans held to the quality standards that are targeted to improving the health of low income beneficiaries. The briefing for press and health professional staff, is hosted by the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP). The Association for Community Affiliated Plans is a national trade organization representing 34 non-profit safety net health plans that serve more than 4 million Americans in Medicare, Medicaid, and other public health programs. The health care experts on the call include: WHO: Darnell Dent, CEO of Community Health Plan of Washington, Seattle, WA Leona Butler, CEO, Santa Clara Family Health Plan, Santa Clara, CA Jean Haynes, CEO, Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan, Boston, MA Margaret Murray, CEO, Association for Community Affiliated Plans, Washington, DC WHAT: Media and policy briefing and release of ACAP’s new paper, Medicaid Health Plans: A Turnkey Solution for Expanding Health Insurance Coverage, Case Studies of California and Massachusetts WHEN: Wednesday, July 25, 2007, 1:00 pm EST (please call in 10 minutes before scheduled time) CALL IN NUMBER: 1-800-896-8445 CONFERENCE ID: 7ACAP (You will use this when you call in to access our group, please give this code to the moderator when you call in.) CALL MATERIALS FOR THE BRIEFING AND THE PAPER WILL BE AVAILABLE 30 MINUTES BEFORE THE CALL Please follow these instructions to access these materials: Day of the Event, Internet Login Instructions:
For additional questions and to RSVP, contact Christina Boye at: 202-331-4600 or cboye@communityplans.net.  |
| Upcoming Events |
July Events |
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4 Independence Day |
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9 Program Committee Call |
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12 Quality Management/Disease Management Directors Roundtable Medicare Committee Call Finance Committee Call |
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16 Executive Committee Call |
17 Medicare SNP Roundtable Call |
18 Policy Roundtable Call |
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23 ACAP Board Meeting |
24 ACAP CEO Summit |
25 ACAP CEO Summit Media and Policy Briefing, Release of ACAP’s New Paper Medicaid Health Plans: A Turnkey Solution for Expanding Health Insurance Coverage, Case Studies of California and Massachusetts |
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28/29 Participation in Sherlock Benchmarking Project Due |
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10 Deadline for Data Submission for Sherlock Financial Metrics |
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15 Asthma Data Due to CHCS |
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17 Deadline for Data Submission for Sherlock Operational Metrics |
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10 Deadline for Asthma Benchmark Data Submission by Participating Plans to the Center for Health Care Strategies |
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17 Medicare SNP Meeting for CMOs and Medicare Directors on Care Management and Models of Care ACAP Legislative Fly-In |
18 ACAP Legislative Fly-In |
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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. |
| Darnell Dent, Chairman |
Margaret A. Murray, Executive Director, mmurray@communityplans.net, 202.331.4601 |
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Association for Community Affiliated Plans 1400 Eye Street, NW, Suite 330 Washington, DC 20005 http://www.communityplans.net Contact Us |