The United States now leads the world in deaths related to COVID-19, representing one-third of all global daily deaths. While this figure is tragic, many states, including Ohio, aggressively implemented physical distancing policies to contain the spread of the virus and flatten the curve. Now, with Ohio poised to roll-back some of those public health...
Author: Loren Anthes (Loren Anthes)
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Flatten the curve, raise the bar: The role of telehealth in the pandemic
The State of Ohio’s strategy to mitigate mortality tied to the novel coronavirus, which causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19), centers on two tactical threads. The first thread is a set of actions to suppress the spread of the virus through distancing measures such as school closures, the prohibition on large public events and the stay-at-home order....
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Coronavirus: How Ohio Medicaid can help flatten the curve
While the United States is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be helpful to understand how Ohio Medicaid can play a role in “flattening the curve” and ensuring the health care delivery system’s capacity isn’t overwhelmed. Medicaid is a state/federal partnership, meaning steps can vary depending on the level of government initiating a policy....
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New Medicaid block grant waiver: Risk disguised as flexibility
On January 30, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) unveiled a Medicaid block grant policy guidance to states calling it the ‘Healthy Adult Opportunity’ (HAO). CMS describes the new waiver program as a way for states to seek flexibility in program design for non-disabled adults and to achieve better outcomes. Upon review, however,...
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Impact SNAP changes will have on Ohio, Medicaid
On January 10, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) submitted a request to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to update its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work requirement waiver. The number of counties in Ohio that would be exempt from the work requirements would drop from 42 to 13 and...
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Medicaid enrollees asked state for more collaboration from managed care plans and providers. Will they listen?
Each time the Ohio legislature deliberates the state’s $65 billion biennial budget, its members are translating the power granted to them through elections into policy, appropriating dollars on behalf of the 11 million Ohioans who are served by the state government. It is true most of the resources budgeted for Medicaid come from the federal...
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Medicaid Substance Use Disorder waiver is a critical tool
On September 24, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved Ohio’s 1115 Substance Use Disorder Demonstration waiver (SUD waiver). The approval of the SUD waiver represents years of Medicaid policy debate about the role and scale of the behavioral health delivery system as Ohio grapples with the consequences of the opioid epidemic and...
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Creating quality for kids: A review of Ohio Medicaid’s focus on value based reimbursement
Before taking office, then Governor-elect Mike DeWine signaled that children’s issues would be a central component of his policy platform with the creation of the Office of Children’s Initiatives in January 2019. Ohio Medicaid plays a major role in the health care of Ohio’s children, with nearly half of all kids (1.2 million) receiving coverage...
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State makes significant investment in Multi-System Youth
The Center for Community Solutions supports efforts to change the practice of forced custody relinquishment, so families don’t have to give up custody so children can receive needed behavioral health and developmental services. Multi-system youth (MSY) are children and teenagers with complex needs that cannot be met by a single state or local agency. Multi-system youth (MSY)...
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One waiver out, one waiver in
The Center for Community Solutions is committed to monitoring and researching the impact of waivers or other proposed changes to Medicaid eligibility or access. During this biennial Ohio budget process, we kept track of a variety of proposed changes that had the potential to affect this population. After some deliberation, the Healthy Ohio proposal from the House...