NEWS & VIEWS

June 20, 2024

An Opportunity to Share

Decision makers need to hear your story! 

If you are interested in attending an informal meeting with policy makers in your home county, please fill out the short form attached to this QR code. Amy Chandler will follow up with specific details of meetings in your region.

Behavior Health Supports Through Medicaid

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) chose ten states to take part in the Medicaid Behavioral Health Clinic Demonstration (CCBHC), and Indiana is one of them! CCBHCs aim to establish payment systems for those who use Medicaid services to ensure that they meet federal standards such as providing 24-hour crisis services and routine outpatient care regardless of ability to pay.

The combination of CCBHCs with mental health and substance use services will help improve access to equitable and quality care to ensure comprehensive services with evidence-based practices. CCBHCs have been proven to reduce homelessness and substance use and can be found through FindTreatment.Gov or by calling 800-662-4357.

Historic Gains in Health Care Coverage

in Minority Communities

HHS issued new reports that detailed historic gains in health care coverage in minority communities thanks to new ACA provisions and expansions. The uninsured rates from 2010 to 2022 were as follows, respectively:



• Black Americans: 20.9% to 10.8%
• Latinx: 32.7% to 18%
• Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders: 16.6% to 6.2%
• American Indians and Alaska Natives: 32.4% to 19.9%

School-Based Services

School corporations and other providers must include the National Provider Identifier (NPI) of the physician or other professional who ordered or referred items or services in all claims for payment. The Indiana Health Coverage Programs (IHCP) recently reminded enrolled school corporations that this requirement applies for all school-based services requiring a referral or order from an IHCP-enrolled provider.

The CKF-IN team appreciates all those who sponsored, attended, exhibited, and presented at the

2024 ISHN Conference!

New Fax Number

The Family & Social Services Administration/Department of Family Resources (FSSA/DFR) has a new fax number. The old number should still work until the end of the month.

New DFR Fax Number: 888-436-9199

Marketplace Do’s and Don’ts

The unwinding special enrollment period (SEP) continues through November 30^th for anyone who lost Medicaid coverage. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently sent out a reminder of assister do’s and don’ts when helping consumers transition to Marketplace or other coverage.

Do:

• Provide accurate and unbiased information.
• Ensure financial integrity with consumers. For example, assisters should be careful that partner organizations do not have a direct financial relationship with health insurance issuers or a financial incentive to enroll consumers into specific health plans or coverage.

Don’t:

• Charge any form of compensation for assistance.
• Provide any gifts of value as an incentive to enroll. 

Marketplace CDO News

New CDOs: To have staff complete required training and assist with Marketplace applications, organizations should become a Certified Application Counselor Designated Organization (CDO). Organizations can now apply year around to be a CDO. If you are unsure if your organization has an active CDO agreement, email CACQuestions@cms.hhs.gov.

Learn more here.

Active CDOs: Organizations that are already CDOs received an email regarding new “CDO Office Hours” being hosted on the second Thursday of the month from 2 -3 pm EST. Attendees can ask questions about using the Maintenance Web Form, renewing CDO agreements or any other questions or concerns. CDOs can also send questions anytime to cacquestions@cms.hhs.gov.

Additional Resources:

• CDO Program Information
• Technical Assistance Resources
• Information for active CDOs

How Families' Unwinding Experience Can Help

Achieve Health Equity

A poll from The Children's Partnership (TCP) that surveyed families’ experience during the Medicaid unwinding has provided helpful insight in ways to improve the enrollment process. Key insights included making renewals less frequent, increasing outreach at a community level, increased staffing for Medicaid offices, and simplifying renewal materials.

Unwinding Study

The Urban Institute released a new report, State Variation in Medicaid and CHIP Unwinding for Children and Adults as of November 2023. While some states had a high level of children disenrolled, Indiana was among the 30 states with the lowest overall net disenrollments and had child and adult disenrollment rates that were close. Indiana is at 37% of projected disenrollments in the 13^th best spot. 

Cooling Centers

With hot weather approaching, cooling centers will be open across the state for those in need of a safe and cool place to stay. Indiana 211 is your community's resource for updated locations and hours of cooling centers in your area. To see a list of current cooling centers click here.

2024 Summer Food Service Program

As a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2024 Summer Food Service Program, all students ages 18 and under can take advantage of free breakfast and lunch at any participating location regardless of where the student attends school.

Dates and hours for meals vary by location, but each are listed on an interactive map curated by the USDA. Families can also find their nearest location by calling 1-886-3-HUNGRY or 1-877-8-HAMBRE or by texting the words “FOOD” or “COMIDA” to 304-304.

Help for SUN Bucks PIN Issues

Indiana SUN Bucks is a new program that provides families $120 per eligible school-aged child to buy groceries while school is out. The Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) is receiving reports of PIN issues that SUN Bucks card users are experiencing. The help line is currently experiencing a high volume of calls. Please try the below process to resolve basic issues before calling the help line.

The selected PIN cannot contain:

• a common sequence of numbers (1234 or 9876),
• repeated numbers (1111 or 8888),
•  two or more repeating numbers (i.e., 1288),
• more than two sequential numbers (i.e., 1238).

The ZIP code must match the ZIP code of the address where the card was sent.

The date of birth must match the child on the card and must be in the format of mmddyyyy.

The system times out quickly. If this happens try writing out all the numbers in the order you will be requested for ease of entering. This includes the card number, zip code, date of birth (for the child on the card), and the PIN you would like to use.

If you continue to have issues, can call the SUN Bucks helpline at 317-234-4528 to escalate the issue.

New Federal Rules on

Medicaid Access and Managed Care

Webinar Series

In a three-part webinar series, Manatt Health’s multidisciplinary team unpacked the recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) final rule changes. Download the webinar recordings and slide decks at the links below.

• Part One: Access, Enrollee Engagement, and Provider Payment Transparency
• Part Two: Managed Care Payments, Quality, and Oversight
• Part Three: Home and Community Based Services

Achieving the Gold Standard of Care: Transforming Pregnancy-Related Medicaid Coverage to Be More Holistic and Patient-Centered

This recorded webinar from May, is part of Families USA’s Health Justice Now series. The live panel discussed how state Medicaid programs can improve pregnancy outcomes and the health of pregnant and postpartum people. They also discussed the importance of access to pregnancy coverage including expanded benefits such as doulas.

More Information:

• Recordings from Health Justice Now webinar series
• Health Publication: What’s Next in Maternal Health? Transforming Medicaid to Combat the maternal Health Crisis

Ensuring Equitable Access to Coverage 

for LGBTQI+ People

Beyond the Basics presented a webinar on the finalized rules for Section 1557, specifically the new sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) marketplace application questions and how enrollment assisters can help ensure trust and effective relationships with LGBTQI+ consumers to aid in accessing coverage. The presentations and slides can be found here.

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