The Iowa Medicaid Enterprise (IME) is providing grants to Medicaid-enrolled Community-Based Intermediate Care Facilities for the Intellectually Disabled (ICF/ID), Psychiatric Mental Institutions for Children (PMICs), and Nursing Facilities (including Nursing Facilities for the Mentally Ill) to help offset impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Medicaid enrolled facilities physically located and licensed in Iowa will automatically receive a payment from the Department via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) as long as they meet a minimum service threshold based on Long Term Care (LTC) claims paid for room and board in State Fiscal Year 2020 (SFY20).

The Department plans to distribute grants starting December 7, 2020. Facilities should expect to receive payment within one week.

In order to keep the grant, the facility will need to complete an electronic attestation online. This attestation should be completed immediately upon receipt of grant funds. If the facility does not wish to keep the grant, they must return the money to the Department by January 4, 2021. Grants not attested for, and not returned to the Department by the deadline, will be subject to recoupment by the Department.

For the complete details, read Informational Letter 2194-MC-FFS-CVD.

IME will be transitioning the administration of children's Medicaid dental benefits from Fee-for-Service (FFS) to managed care beginning July 1, 2021.

The children's Medicaid dental benefit package will stay the same, but members will now have the option to choose between either Delta Dental of Iowa (DDIA) or Managed Care of North America (MCNA) as their dental plan carrier.

This impacts children currently enrolled in FFS aged 0-19 years. This change does not impact the Hawki program.

For more details, see Informational Letter 2189-FFS-D.

The following public notice has recently been posted on the Department of Human Services (DHS) website:

Click the photo above to view the video.

The Youth Policy Institute of Iowa (YPII) put together a video to show their appreciation of Amerigroup's recent generous donation of laptops to youth transitioning from foster care to adulthood.

The laptops are supporting the young adults with telehealth services, staying connected, and continuing virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.