Scope Alignment Resources Available

Scope Alignment Validation (SAV) is a one-time opportunity for health centers to review their scope of project in the updated Form 5A: Services and Form 5B: Service Sites and make limited allowable updates in the Electronic Handbook (EHB). SAV opens in EHB on Monday, June 30, 2014 at 12:00 am, ET and closes on Wednesday, July 23, 2014 at 5:00 pm, ET. The Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) has posted several SAV technical assistance resources to assist health centers in completing SAV:  

• SAV Frequently Asked Questions 
• SAV Video Walk-through
• SAV June 18th TA Session Recording

MAGI-Based Medicaid/CHIP Renewal Process 

Strong Correlation between Medicaid Expansion and Drop in Uninsurance Rate

Affordable Care Act helps 76 million Americans with private coverage access free preventive services

Children should get vaccinated against preventable and potentially deadly diseases. 

That's what a project that screened more than 20,000 scientific titles and 67 papers on vaccine safety concludes this week. The review appears in the latest edition of the medical journal Pediatrics. 

Report Provides Important Reassurances About Vaccines

A new report funded by AHRQ has found that serious adverse events resulting from vaccines routinely used in the United States are rare. The report, highlighted in the July issue of Pediatrics, provides the most comprehensive review to date of published studies on the safety of routine vaccines recommended for children in the United States. The report, Safety of Vaccines Used for Routine Immunization in the United States found scientific evidence that addresses several common concerns about a variety of vaccines. For example, the report found strong scientific evidence that there is no link between:

• Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines and autism
• Pneumonia and influenza vaccines and cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events in the elderly
• MMR, diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; tetanus and diphtheria; Haemophilus influenza type b; and hepatitis B vaccines and childhood leukemia

In addition, the report found moderately strong scientific evidence that there is not a link between human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines and appendicitis, stroke, seizures, venous thromboembolism, onset of juvenile arthritis or onset of type 1 diabetes. It also found that there is not a link between inactivated influenza vaccines and adverse pregnancy outcomes (such as miscarriage, low birth weight and premature birth) for women who receive the vaccine while pregnant. The AHRQ evidence review, announced July 1, was conducted by the Southern California Evidence-based Practice Center based at the RAND Corporation.

The latest issue of AHRQ's Health Care Innovations Exchange features three state programs that reimbursed medical homes for delivering high-quality, coordinated care to Medicaid beneficiaries, improving outcomes and lowering costs. One of the featured policy profiles describes the Colorado Accountable Care Collaborative, a primary care-based model in which the state Medicaid agency contracts with regional organizations that, in turn, contract with primary care-led medical homes. The medical homes coordinate specialist, hospital, behavioral health and social services on behalf of Medicaid enrollees, leading to fewer admissions and readmissions, less use of high-cost imaging services and a slowdown in the growth of emergency department visits. The payment model for the program uses a blend of fee-for-service for medical services, capitation for care management and coordination, and financial incentives to promote quality and efficiency. Collectively, these improvements have yielded an estimated $6 million in cost savings for the state.

This week, USA Today published an investigation into the issue of how Medicaid and Medicare may be to blame for patients going without mental health care. "Stigma against the mentally ill is so powerful that it's been codified for 50 years into federal law, and few outside the mental health system even realize it," Liz Szabo wrote.

For example, the Medicare law limits the number of days patients can receive inpatient psychiatric care but imposes no such limits for physical health. Officials said the writers of the Medicare and Medicaid rules had good intentions, such as moving psychiatric patients out of asylums and back into communities for outpatient treatment.

Skimpier Health Plans Could Impose Big Out-Of-Pocket Costs

People are worried about being able to pay for health insurance. So the insurance industry and a group of Democratic senators have proposed offering cheaper, skimpier "copper plans" on the health law's marketplaces that could draw in people who were unhappy with the cost of available plans.

But consumer advocates and others who study the insurance market suggest that there may not be a big demand for these plans and that they could expose people to unacceptably high out-of-pocket costs if they got sick.

"It's a false promise of affordability," says Sabrina Corlette, project director at Georgetown University's Center on Health Insurance Reforms. "If you ever have to use the plan, you won't be able to afford it."

A Hewlett-Packard business unit has signed a $147 million deal to help the Delaware Health and Social Services Department implement a new system for managing the state's Medicaid enrollment applications and claims.

HP Enterprise Services will deploy an interChange Medicaid management information system and continue serving as the fiscal agent for the Delaware's health agency under the contract, HP said Tuesday.

The company and the state work together to process benefits for more than 230,000 Medicaid recipients each year, according to HP.

Health exchange board approves tech purchases for new website 

'Vaportinis outlawed in Maryland, while Virginia's new mental health law went into effect

Curious about those vaportinis? Essentially, drinks meant to be inhaled like a hookah?

Vaportinis may have some street cred when it comes to cuisine. But if you live in Virginia, they are no longer allowed as of July 1, reports NBC4 Washington. They are among multiple health and safety laws in the region that took effect with the start of the month.

Where 72,200 Maryland health exchange enrollees live, in one chart

Baltimore City residents accounted for 8 percent of the 72,200 people who bought health insurance through Maryland's exchange.

The largest portion of exchange enrollees - about 45 percent - hail from Montgomery and Prince George's counties, according to data released June 27 by the exchange. The data does not specify how many people were eligible to sign up in each county.

Overall, Maryland enrolled a small portion of the total number of residents considered potential enrollees, according to analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The 72,200 enrollees represent about 17 percent of the 419,000 residents who could have signed up. Potent ial enrollees are legal residents who are uninsured or previously bought insurance in the individual marketplace, who are not eligible for Medicaid and do not have access to employer-sponsored health plans.

Take a look at the exchange's map to see where enrollment was highest and lowest.