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...
Tag: Medicaid
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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)...
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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...
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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...
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Update on Disability Determination Redesign (DDR)
As the state prepares to transition to a unified disability determination system, thus ending the Medicaid spend-down program, additional information about who will be affected by the transition, and the impact of these changes, has been released. The Governor’s Office of Health Transformation (OHT) published an overview of the changes. The impact of the state’s...
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CMS Release Final Managed Care Rule
On April 25th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the much anticipated final rule significantly updating regulations pertaining to managed care organizations (MCOs) participating in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program or (CHIP). MCOs are private insurance companies that provide, or arrange the provision of, services for Medicaid enrollees in exchange...
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JMOC Update and Healthy Ohio’s First Public Comment Hearing
On April 21st, the Ohio Department of Medicaid was busy with Director John McCarthy offering testimony before the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) in the morning as well as serving as host to the first of two required hearings for Ohio’s 1115 Demonstration proposal known as “Healthy Ohio” in the afternoon. During JMOC, the director...
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State Releases Request for Grant Applications for Healthier Buckeye Grant Pilot Program
The state Healthier Buckeye Advisory Council was created in the 2014 Mid-Biennium Review and was tasked with helping to establish local Healthier Buckeye Councils at the county level. The aim of local Healthier Buckeye Councils is to encourage collaboration at the community level between businesses, social services, health care providers, service recipients, schools, Medicaid managed-care...
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Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee: Medicaid Budget Update
On March 24th, the Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC) received a Medicaid budget update from JMOC’s Executive Director Susan Ackerman and Policy Aide Gregory Craig. The update included a review of trends in enrollment and spending as well as a review of major policy initiatives in Ohio and across the nation. In part, this update...
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Updates on Changes to Disability Determination and Elimination of Medicaid Spend-down, now known as Disability Determination Redesign (DDR)
Earlier this year, a CCS blog post, and subsequent Common Ground, provided an overview of the State of Ohio’s plan to transition to a unified disability determination system thus ending the Medicaid spend-down program. Advocates have worked closely together, and with the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM), to learn about this change and how current...