Before our readers head out for what we hope is a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, we are sharing this month’s edition of Health Policy News. We have included an update on our recent webinar about our white paper on the Public Health Emergency unwind, sharing breaking updates. We also share interesting health policy updates from around the nation and the Federal administration.
Health Policy News Team Hosts Webinar on the End of the Public Health Emergency
On November 17th, the HPN team hosted a webinar as a companion piece to an October 2022 white paper- The End of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency & the Effect on Health Insurance Coverage. The HPN team included policy and operational SMEs who provided background on the impact this will have on both private and public insurance, as well as best practices and examples from work we are doing now with states in advance of the official unwinding period. Click here to access more information about the webinar.
Mandatory Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Core Set Reporting
In August 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule, which, if promulgated, would create mandatory annual reporting requirements for states on three core sets of quality measures collectively known as “the Core Sets.” Historically, states have voluntarily reported on the Core Sets, although there has been significant variation in reporting across states.
Collecting these data sets through mandatory reporting would allow for an evaluation of both the quality and access to health care services delivered to Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries, both nationally and as compared across states. The proposed rule would also require states to stratify certain Core Sets measures by race, ethnicity, sex, age, rural/urban status, disability, and language, which would strengthen the power of the Core Sets and paint a more accurate picture of health care quality and equity. Ultimately, the goal of this new rule is that, through assessing national and state-level health care quality and access, quality of health care for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries would improve over time.
For more information and to view a PCG fact sheet on the proposed rule, click here.
State Efforts to Improve Perinatal Healthcare
Advancing quality of healthcare continues to be a focus for many states, even as they continue to tackle the impacts of the COVID-19 public health emergency and face a myriad of other healthcare-related challenges. One of the focus areas of state quality efforts recently has been the delivery of perinatal care for Medicaid recipients. While states across the nation are targeting this important issue, their approaches vary due to the unique state policy landscapes. Click here to read about the efforts underway in three states.
