News

Hilltop Collaborates with New Mexico in Development of New Coordinated Long-Term Services Program

The Hilltop Institute collaborated with the New Mexico Human Services Department in the development of a new coordinated long-term services program that has just received federal approval. The program will serve an estimated 38,000 Medicaid beneficiaries statewide, the vast majority of whom are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid ("dual eligibles"). The enrollees who are not dual eligibles will meet a nursing facility level of care even though many are already served in the community. Known as the Coordination of Long-Term Services (COLTS) Program, New Mexico's model will operate under a Section 1915(b)(c) waiver from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the state will contract with two managed care organizations (MCOs) that are also Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans. The state has two major goals in COLTS: to coordinate Medicare and Medicaid services by contracting with MCOs that may serve the beneficiaries in both programs, and to coordinate the full array of Medicaid services in order to promote community-based services where appropriate for the given beneficiary. The program will be implemented on a statewide basis over the next 11 months. Hilltop has been working with New Mexico over the past three years to design the program, develop the waivers, and advise the state on the capitated rate structure.

Hilltop Presents at Colorado’s Centennial Care Choices Program Panel

The Hilltop Institute’s executive director, Chuck Milligan, gave a presentation on benefit design on August 4, 2008, before the Colorado Centennial Care Choices Program Panel, a governor-appointed expert panel charged with gathering information on the design, benefits, and costs of a Value Benefit Plan for the people of Colorado. Milligan discussed the concept of minimum benefits (a state’s determination of what constitutes “being insured”) and policy implications, such as the balance between a given state’s determination of where to strike a balance between its role to protect its citizens, and its role to respect individual liberty/autonomy to purchase services in the market; the balance between coverage by private insurance and government programs that wrap around those benefits; and the balance between covering more people with leaner benefits, or fewer people with more comprehensive benefits. Milligan then presented alternatives utilized by different states to provide benefits to their uninsured citizens.

Hilltop Hosts Fifth Symposium on Health Policy

The Hilltop Institute sponsored a day-long symposium to explore three major areas of policy innovation to improve access to and utilization of oral health care: integration of dental and medical service delivery; dental workforce issues; and health education and outreach strategies. The day was divided into four sessions and highlighted by a keynote address, a luncheon address, and concluding reflections. Over 130 policy makers, health services researchers, and health care practitioners from across the country, including the leading experts in the field, participated in the event. Click here to learn more.