Policy

In this cross-sectional study of 266 Medicaid MCO plans and 39 FFS programs, FFS programs offered more generous MOUD coverage, but a higher percentage of FFS programs imposed PA than MCO plans.

Hepatitis C: State of Medicaid Access is a collaboration between the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School (CHLPI) and the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable (NVHR). The project evaluates hepatitis C (HCV) treatment restriction policies across state Medicaid programs, including all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (referred to in this report as “states”). The goal of this project is to encourage states and empower advocates to work toward improved access to curative HCV treatment across all Medicaid programs, in order to ensure that every Medicaid enrollee who can benefit from this treatment is able to access it.

The National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services recently published a policy brief on behavioral health and primary care integration in rural health facilities.

A recent ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court changes federal protections for reproductive health care services to a decision made at the state level.  To help patients and providers better understand quickly changing policies, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services created a site to explain access to care for those with and without insurance coverage.  Research has shown rural-urban disparities in unintended pregnancies as well as an ongoing decline in obstetric services in rural areas. 

More than twenty percent of adults—or 1 in 5—experience a behavioral health disorder every year in the United States. Behavioral health disorders can be challenging to identify, screen for and treat, especially in rural communities and the supply of behavioral health providers often cannot meet the demand for services. This webinar highlighted state policy options to increase access to rural behavioral health providers, including leveraging telebehavioral health, considering licensing policies and compacts, utilizing emerging health professionals to address workforce gaps, and examining scope of practice policies for behavioral health professionals.

Description of how States are Preparing for Opioid Settlement Funds

The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy recently announced $1.365M supporting three awards to improve behavioral health care services in rural counties served by the Northern Border Regional Commission.  This three-year project will support education and training for health professionals in treatment and interventions for behavioral health disorders, including substance use disorder.

Addiction Policy Forum, in partnership with Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) and the National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts’ Response to Mental Illness, have released a new online course to help educate judges and court staff on the FDA-approved medications to treat opioid use disorder and their effectiveness for people involved with the criminal justice system.  The course is self-paced and takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. The course aims to prepare participants with the knowledge and information about what substance use disorder treatment involves, the differences between the types of medications used to treat opioid use disorder, and how those medications work.

While as many as 47 state Medicaid programs were paying for some form of care via telehealth before the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, data show that services increased more than 20-fold between February and April 2020.  Rates declined after April but still remained far above pre-pandemic level.  This issue brief from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) examines how the use changed during the pandemic and identifies selected changes in telehealth policy related to Medicaid. 

Drug overdose is a continuing epidemic that claimed the lives of over 67,000 Americans in 2018. Opioids, either alone or in combination with other substances, were responsible for approximately 70% of these deaths. Many of these lost lives and other opioid-related harms are preventable through the timely administration of the opioid reversal drug naloxone and, where appropriate, other follow-up care.