Fall RSG Meetings Are Underway

With the election of a new administration and potential for significant changes in federal health policy in general and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in particular, the annual fall meetings of the Fund’s Reforming States Group (RSG) promise to be particularly engaging.

The RSG brings together health policy leaders from state executive and legislative branches, as well as from overseas and local municipalities, in a bipartisan setting to learn from one another and from outside experts. This year’s meetings, the first of which occurs in mid-November and the last in mid-December, will be held in Seattle, Miami, and Dallas. Officials from at least 41 states will be represented.

During the state update portion of the meeting, participants from the executive and legislative branches have an opportunity to highlight the most significant health care-related issues going on in their region. In these confidential, collegial settings, RSG members speak freely with one another and have the opportunity to learn how to lead more effective responses in their own states.

All of the meetings also feature sessions on topics in health policy that are of importance to state policymakers and that were selected by the RSG Steering Committee. Topics this fall include:

• How Can States Improve Care for Older Adults with Complex Needs: State Policy Priorities for Improving Care
  Almost five million Medicaid beneficiaries use long-term services and supports (LTSS) and more than 10 million Americans are dually eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare benefits. To support a growing population of aging adults as well as adults with disabilities, states are looking for solutions to provide high-quality, cost-effective health care options. This session brought together nationally-recognized experts to discuss shifting care delivery and spending from institutional to community-based settings and efforts to integrate Medicaid and Medicare activities that advance person-centered, high quality, cost-effective care.

• Integrated Data Systems: Using Data Across Systems to Make Better Program Investments
  Government lacks the capacity to fully define, develop, or evaluate the effectiveness of health, behavioral health, and social service interventions over time and across multiple state and local systems. A number of states and local jurisdictions have developed Integrated Data Systems (IDS) for social and human services. IDS connects administrative data across government agencies to help identify the individuals and families at greatest risk and to assess the impact of program interventions. Participants investigated how the use of IDS can help inform policy and program decisions.

• Leveraging Medicaid to Address the Social Determinants of Health
  Extensive research demonstrates the impact of social factors on individual health and population health outcomes, particularly those of low-income populations.  These findings are not lost on policymakers who continue to look for strategies to address both the medical and social determinants of health.  This session  considered how and when Medicaid can cover and pay for non-clinical services that influence health and health outcomes.

“With the upcoming changes at the federal level—including likely modifications to the ACA—RSG participants are eager to meet with one another and to discuss what the future might hold for state health policy,” said Trina Gonzalez, program officer at the Fund. “The RSG continues to provide a unique, bipartisan setting in which executive and legislative leaders have a chance to learn from one another.”