Increasing the Medicaid Rate for Primary Care

One of the Affordable Care Act's key reforms to ensure better access to quality care is an increase in Medicaid's reimbursement for certain primary care providers, to put them at parity with Medicare providers. In a new post to the Commonwealth Fund Blog, Nikki Highsmith of the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) argues that the rate increase, which will be in effect in 2013 and 2014, "opens a window to broader primary care payment reform that could drive the adoption of innovative models of primary care, including medical homes, health homes, and accountable care organizations."
Historically, Medicaid reimbursement for physician services has lagged far behind rates paid by private payers and Medicare.

Health Care Reform lawsuit 

The Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the first appeals court to rule on the issue, found that the individual mandate in the health care reform law is not unconstitutional. Several more appeals courts will be ruling on this issue, and it is expected that it will ultimately go to the Supreme Court. To read a New York Times article about the case, see http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/us/30health.html?_r=2.

US plans stealth survey on access to doctors
Article in The New York Times:
Alarmed by a shortage of primary care doctors, Obama administration officials are recruiting a team of "mystery shoppers" to pose as patients, call doctors' offices and request appointments to see how difficult it is for people to get care when they need it. More

Education Dept. to Examine State, Local Bullying Policies

Article from blog in Education Week:

Bullying, its prevention, and punishment remain a major goal of the U.S. Department of Education. This fall, the federal government will begin a study project that looks at how local bullying policies are put into action in several individual school districts and states.

Request For Proposal for Team-Based Early Intervention Services

The Department of Economic Security (DES) is expanding team-based early intervention in Arizona. New contracts will be administered by the Department's Arizona Early Intervention Program (DES/AzEIP) and serve all families and their children, birth to three years of age, who are eligible for the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) and AzEIP

(a.k.a. AzEIP-only). DDD will retain service coordination responsibilities for some DDD eligible children and their families, including children enrolled in the Arizona Long Term Care System. This direction aligns contracts with evidence-based practice, establishes a uniform contract and rate structure for the Department's most frequently utilized early intervention

services, and responds to challenges with ensuring timely services.

The Department will issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) soliciting providers tentatively scheduled for release later this summer. If you are interested in receiving the notice that the AzEIP RFP is available for review, please

register on the State web-based Procurement System, ProcureAZ. A guide is available at http://spo.az.gov/ProcureAZ/Vendors/default.asp . The Early Intervention Commodity Code is 952-67. To ensure that you are notified of the RFP's availability, AzEIP encourages you to register before the end of July, although registering after July will still enable you to participate in the procurement process. If, after reviewing the instructions, you need assistance, please contact the ProcureAZ Help Desk at (602) 542-7600 or procure@azdoa.gov .

More information in the memo linked through https://www.azdes.gov/azeip/ .

Education, Health, and Social Services Cut
With the start of Arizona's new fiscal year on July 1st, hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cut are taking effect. Arizona's general fund support for state agencies will be $2.3 billion lower than it was in FY 08 - a 22% drop. 

Arizona's population decreased by less than 2% from 2008-2010.

See this chart

Empowerment Scholarship Account

The Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) established by SB 1553, passed earlier this spring, enables parents to place their child with a disability in homeschool or private school using 90% of the funds the state would have usually spend on the student.

Your child must have been enrolled in a public school for 100 school days last year in order to qualify this year, including public preschools. Or, they must have qualified for an STO scholarship last year if enrolled in private school. The program must include reading, grammar, mathematics, social studies and science.

Although the law does not take effect until July 20th, the Arizona Department of Education began to accept preliminary applications to determine eligibility on July 1st. If a student is eligible, the parents must sign an ESA agreement in order for the funds to be transferred to the Treasurer's Office and the ESA to be opened. ESA's must be awarded by August 1st for the fall of 2011. For questions please email ESA@azed.gov

Barrow Neurological Institute announces Phoenix Children's Hospital as new pediatric affiliate

St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center and Phoenix Children's Hospital jointly announced that their pediatric neuroscience programs have combined to form the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Read more.

Department of Behavioral Health posts FAQs regarding AHCCCS changes

In response to the number of questions received about the Prop 204 Rollover and AHCCCS Childless Adult Program Changes for 2011, DBHS has placed information for members and providers about this process on the front page of its website. Please go to http://www.azdhs.gov/bhs/index.htm to learn more.

KidsWell Campaign Launches Website and Online Resource Hub for Health Reform Implementation

KidsWell, a campaign dedicated to the successful implementation of federal health reform for America's children, launched www.KidsWellCampaign.org, a website monitoring state and national health care reform implementation and opposition across the country.  

      The website focuses on health insurance coverage programs and provisions under the Affordable Care Act, including Medicaid, the Child Health Insurance Program, Health Benefit Exchanges, and health insurance regulatory reforms. It was designed to support child health advocates, but also provides transparency and accountability on health care reform implementation more broadly, benefitting policy makers, researchers and the public. 

Also, visit the KidsWell companion Issue Brief, Health Care Reform in the States: A Snapshot, which highlights the maps on the website and serves as a roll-up of the state and federal implementation and opposition activity.

For more information about the website, powered by Manatt Health Solutions, please contact info@kidswellcampaign.org or 212-790-4625.

Medicaid "calculator" measures economic impact of Medicaid cuts.  

Families USA recently updated its Medicaid "calculator", which can work two ways:  (1) You can plug in cuts that your STATE is contemplating making to Medicaid; or (2) you can plug in FEDERAL cuts to Medicaid to see how that would affect your state's Medicaid program.

Health Indicator Data Fact Sheets. 

CDC's Disability and Health Program has developed fact sheets that provide state, district and territory based health-indicator data to demonstrate health disparities among people with disabilities.

Tips from Arizona Department of Health Services

• It's not just the homeless that are risk for heat related illnesses--everybody is. Each year, nearly 1,400 Arizonans get heat related illnesses so serious that they end up in an emergency department. Hundreds are so ill that they end up being admitted to the hospital. The good news is that preventing heat related illness is easy to do if you just use common sense. You can learn how to protect yourself from heat with some resources on our website including our Heat Brochure, Heat Related Illness Tips for Schools and our newly revised Heat Emergency Response Plan.  

• An electronic tool called AZ Care Check provides consumers a tool to look up the compliance history of any of ADHS-licensed facilities. This information can be helpful in making informed decisions about where to seek services.

Reminder from DDD: Nominate a Caregiver by July 15
Arizona's Department of Economic Security, Division of Developmental Disabilities is accepting nominations for excellence in care giving. Three Direct Support Professionals and one Direct Support Supervisor will be honored for superior services and/or exemplary work for individuals with developmental disabilities.

Nominations are due by July 15, 2011.

Download the nomination form here. For additional information review this flyer  or contact Miriam Podrazik 602-542-6962 or MPodrazik@azdes.gov

Mental Health First Aid training

Free training opportunity: A 12-hour certification course to help communities better understand mental illness and respond to psychiatric emergencies. The only requirement is that participants attend all three sessions. 

Where: Arizona Department of Health Services, 150 N. 18thAve. Suites 215A & 215B, Phoenix, AZ 85007

August 10, 2011, 1:00 PM-5:00 PM

August 17, 2011, 1:00 PM-5:00 PM

August 24, 2011, 1:00 PM-5:00 PM

Space is limited. RSVP by July 25, 2011 by phone 602-412-4081or email Training@familyinvolvementcenter.org

Workshop for youth with epilepsy

The Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona is hosting a free Employment Workshop on Wednesday July 20th and we would like to invite any young adults with epilepsy and their parents. The workshop will review accommodations for the workplace and entering the workforce.

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Arizona State University Downtown Campus

Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication

555 N. Central Ave., Room 122, Phoenix, AZ 85004

To register visit www.epilepsyfoundation.org/arizona or contact the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona at (602) 406-3581.

Parent Leaders with children using behavioral health services are needed for:  

• Focus groups
• Monthly workgroups
• Presenting parent perspective