Integrated Care for Dually Eligible Beneficiaries and Medicaid HCBS Rebalancing:
An Update from MACPAC
Kirstin Blom, MIPA, Contracting officer and a principal analyst, MACPAC and Asmaa Albaroudi, MSG, senior analyst, MACPAC.
ABOUT THE TOPIC:
Integrated Care for Duals. Over the past several years, the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) has engaged in many conversations regarding integrated care programs for individuals who are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. Their work has focused on three goals: increasing enrollment in integrated products; making integrated products more widely available; and promoting greater care integration within existing products.
Our presenters will share highlights from the draft chapter of the June 2022 Report to Congress with a recommendation to require all states to develop a strategy to integrate coverage. They will also share high-level MACPAC comments on the Medicare Advantage proposed rule (finalized on May 9th) which includes many provisions affecting integrated care for the dually eligible, including a plan to transition Medicare-Medicaid plans to Medicare Advantage dual eligible special needs plans. They will also discuss initial thoughts on the beneficiary experience in integrated care and ways of improving integration for dually eligible beneficiaries in fee-for-service states.
Workforce Shortages. Over the last two decades, federal and state policymakers have focused on rebalancing long-term services and supports (LTSS) away from institutional settings and toward home and community-based services (HCBS). The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated federal and state interest in promoting the use of HCBS over institutional services, but has also exacerbated the workforce shortage. MACPAC is engaged in ongoing work focused on streamlining access to and incentivizing HCBS. The presenters will share preliminary work on considerations in redesigning the Medicaid HCBS benefit, and separately takeaways from a recently released issue brief on HCBS workforce shortages.
About the Speakers:
Kirstin Blom, MIPA, is the contracting officer and a principal analyst. Before joining MACPAC, Ms. Blom was an analyst in health care financing at the Congressional Research Service. Before that, Ms. Blom worked as a principal analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, where she estimated the cost of proposed legislation on the Medicaid program. Ms. Blom has also been an analyst for the Medicaid program in Wisconsin and for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). She holds a master of international public affairs from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a bachelor of arts in international studies and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin.
Asmaa Albaroudi, MSG, is a senior analyst. Prior to joining MACPAC, she was a Health and Aging Policy Fellow with the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health. Ms. Albaroudi also worked as the manager of quality and policy initiatives at the National PACE Association, where she provided research and analysis on federal and state regulations. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland-College Park’s School of Public Health, where her research centers on long term care. Ms. Albaroudi holds a master of science in gerontology and a bachelor of science in human development and aging from the University of Southern California.
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