The Commonwealth Fund releases an annual scorecard for state health system performance, evaluating states on items related to access, affordability, prevention, treatment, costs, disparities, and health outcomes. State and federal agencies use the analysis to identify and implement a range of policy options aimed to improve health programs in the short and the long term.

So how did Indiana do? Indiana fell short in primary care spending on 18–64 year-olds, meaning Indiana spent less than other states on primary care as a share of total health care spending. Primary care can focus on prevention and/or treating illnesses before they get more serious. Indiana’s score declined in the category measuring the number of children who do not receive needed mental health care. Indiana had 14% of children in this category in 2019 then moved to 22% in 2021. (The best state in this category only had 11% of children who did not receive needed mental health care.)

Indiana saw its best performance on these indicators: (1) hospitals with better-than-average patient experience ratings, (2) diabetic adults without an annual hemoglobin A1c test, meaning Indiana got most adults with diabetes an annual A1c test, and (3) preventable hospitalizations for Hoosiers aged 18-64. In 2019, Indiana had 7 preventable hospitalizations per 1000 employer-insured Hoosiers, which improved to 4 per 1000 in 2021.

The first interim study committee has been scheduled. The Interim Study Committee on Public Health, Behavioral Health, and Human Services will meet on:

These are public meetings. You can find more information on the committees and their schedule here: https://iga.in.gov/2023/committees/interim.

As of July 1, 2023, the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) became a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Healthy Schools state. IDOH was awarded a 5-year CDC cooperative agreement to promote the health and well-being of school-age children. The School-Based Interventions to Promote Equity and Improve Health, Academic Achievement, and Well-Being of Students cooperative agreement recipients will use the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) Model to implement and evaluate evidence-based efforts within the state and local education agencies, schools, and out-of-school time settings.

The Family & Social Services Administration (FSSA) continues to update their “return to normal” website. The latest updates include:

The Dashboards include further insight into disenrollments with a break down by program (HIP, HHW, etc.), ethnicity, race, and age. The Dashboard also includes the number of disenrollments by county.

KFF updated their tracker on July 18^th.

Starting August 2^nd, the Marketplace Assister Certification Training will have its annual “Go-Dark” period where assisters will not be able to access the training. No date was provided when the training will be live again, but in the past, it has resumed in September or early October.

Indiana Family & Social Services Administration (FSSA) announced their next stakeholder resources meeting will be on August 1^st at 10:30 am.

Join Zoom Meeting by clicking here.

The Indiana Public Health Association and Health by Design are now accepting virtual presentation abstracts for its “WHAT’S NEXT?” 2023 Health Equity Summit. This two-day event is on Thursday, August 17th and Friday, August 18th at 10 AM – 2:00 PM ET.  

Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) continue to host a series of monthly webinars on Medicaid and CHIP Renewals to educate partners. Topics covered during the webinar vary each month. Webinars take place the fourth Wednesday of each month from 12:00pm - 1:00pm ET. To register for upcoming webinars through September 2023 below, please click here.

Recordings, transcripts, and slides from past webinars can be found on the CMS National Stakeholder Calls webpage.

During the June 28^th Monthly Partner Webinar on Medicaid and CHIP Renewals hosted by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), CMS walked through a set of slides that partners can download and use to educate people in their communities about Medicaid and CHIP renewals. The training slides are now available for download on the Outreach and Educational Resources webpage on Medicaid.gov/unwinding.

The 2023 ALICE Report is now available. ALICE stands for Asset-Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed. It considers households above the federal poverty level who cannot afford the basic cost of living in their county. In Indiana, the number of households below the ALICE threshold for financial survival increased from 941,166 (37%) in 2019 to over 1 million (39%) in 2021. This report also reflects on the impact of COVID on the financial well-being of Hoosiers. County level data is included, and a detailed county report can be requested.