With 20 million more Americans with healthcare coverage just six years after its passage, it is undeniable that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has had a profound impact on the uninsured rate in the U.S. and here in Northeast Ohio. Due to the combination of Medicaid extension and the Federally-facilitated Marketplace, Ohio...
Year: 2016
HHS Strategic Plan Ordinance Passes out of Cuyahoga County HHSA Committee
A major development in the field of Cuyahoga County health and human services took place at the August 3, 2016, meeting of the Cuyahoga County Council Health, Human Services and Aging Committee. For the past five years, Councilman Dale Miller has brainstormed how to get the county to strategize, plan, and create a vision for...
Healthy Ohio Waiver Released
On June 30, the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) submitted its application for the legislatively required 1115 Demonstration Waiver known as “Healthy Ohio” to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Throughout the state development process, we have written and posted about Healthy Ohio in order to address our concerns and questions regarding...
County Profiles: What’s New, and What Can We Learn?
This week, we’re pleased to introduce updated county profile factsheets. Our hope is that you’ll find them to be a useful resource for better understanding the needs in your community and advocating for programs and policies that can improve health and social conditions around the state. The factsheets focus on data related to health and...
JMOC: Paying for Value
The Governor’s Office of Health Transformation (OHT) has made the transition to value-based payment its main focus since it was created in the beginning of the Kasich Administration. Now, before the budgetary swan song for this governor, many of the seeds planted in those early stages are starting to bear fruit and OHT is ramping...
Fathers Matter: An Update on Cuyahoga County’s Fatherhood Initiative
Fathers play an important role in our culture and our society. There are good programs across the country that are aimed at supporting fathers in helping them to be strong role models and examples in their family. However, there are not many public sector entities in which there is an entire division where the sole...
Ohio Announces Initial Approval of HCBS Transition Plan
On Monday, June 6th, the Ohio Office of Health Transformation released a statement announcing the recent initial approval of the state’s Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Transition Plan, by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The plan, submitted originally in March, 2015, was developed in response to new CMS rules for states operating 1915(c)...
Cuyahoga County Council Health, Human Services & Aging Committee Meetings
On April 20, 2016, the Cuyahoga County Council Health, Human Services & Aging Committee heard from David Merriman, administrator for the Department of Child and Family Services, requesting approval of a contract for Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U). Y.O.U. was selected in response to a County RFP for the implementation of a summer youth employment program....
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...
An Update on the Extension of Medicaid
Ohio’s Medicaid extension has received a lot of scrutiny from the media, policymakers, and policy experts since its implementation in 2014. This scrutiny has only increased in the past few months during Governor Kasich’s Presidential run and as the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) finalizes its statutorily required 1115 demonstration waiver, Healthy Ohio. While many...