Having convened for its final two scheduled meetings earlier this month, the Speaker’s Task Force on Education and Poverty (STFEP) will soon present its findings and recommendations for closing Ohio’s educational achievement gap in a report to the General Assembly. Over the past five months, The Center for Community Solutions has followed the deliberations of...
Tag: Behavioral Health
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Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee: Behavioral Health Redesign Beta Testing Part II
On November 16, the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) met to revisit the topic of beta testing Ohio’s Behavioral Health Redesign. This time, in addition to a presentation by Medicaid Director Barbara Sears and other Kasich administration staff, JMOC heard from the Ohio Association of Health Plans (OAHP), The Ohio Council of Behavioral Health &...
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Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee: Behavioral Health Redesign Beta Testing
On October 19, the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) met to continue the conversation regarding the progress of Ohio’s Behavioral Health Redesign. In the presentation offered by the state before next week’s commencement of beta testing for claims, the state outlined metrics they have will be using to document their progress including number of patients...
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Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee: Medicaid Budgeting and the Behavioral Health Redesign
On September 21, the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) met to discuss the state budget process and the Behavioral Health Redesign and, on September 22, the state convened one of its regional forums on the redesign for providers. These two events can demonstrate how policy is discussed in the context of committee and the practical...
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JMOC Hears Testimony from ODM, ODMHAS, and Behavioral Health Providers as Redesign Implementation is Delayed
After over two years of preparing to carve new behavioral health benefits into Medicaid managed care plans and recode all Medicaid behavioral health services to align with national coding standards, the Ohio Departments of Medicaid (ODM) and Mental Health and Addiction Services (ODMHAS) had announced they were ready to go live with the Behavioral Health...
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House-Passed Version of State Budget Includes $170 Million to Address Opiate Crisis and Behavioral Health Needs in the State
The Ohio House of Representatives passed its version of the state budget in early May and, as had been discussed for weeks, included a significant investment in behavioral health-related services to address the growing needs around the state’s opiate crisis and individuals living with mental illness. The funding totals $170.6 million over the biennium, spread...
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JMOC: Behavioral Health Redesign Update
The Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) received testimony from two state directors who provided operational updates and policy changes for the state’s upcoming behavioral health redesign implementation on July 1, 2017. The directors touched on many of the changes the Department of Medicaid and the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services have made since...
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JMOC: Redesign Update and Panel Discussion
The Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) had a lengthy discussion on May 26th regarding alcohol and drug addiction. During the meeting, which featured a panel of experts in the field, there were two main points of conversation. First, there was a “status update” by Dr. Mark Hurst, Medical Director of the Ohio Department of Mental...