May 22, 2012 - A new Commonwealth Fund–supported Web site offers educational resources for consumer groups and can serve as a platform for sharing ideas and strategies for improving care for dual eligibles.
Tool
March 11, 2011 - As the first state to enact legislation to create a health insurance exchange since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, California is an early example of how the law's vision of state-based exchanges can be implemented.
State Profile
March 11, 2011 - The Utah Health Exchange is a Web portal through which small businesses can make a defined contribution—a fixed dollar amount per employee—toward health insurance, and their employees can compare and select health plans from a range of options.
State Profile
March 11, 2011 - The Massachusetts Health Connector was created as an independent state agency charged with implementing many elements of the state's 2006 health care reform.
State Profile
January 20, 2011 - Missouri has pioneered a program for Medicaid beneficiaries with severe mental illness that is based in community mental health centers and provides care coordination and disease management to address the "whole person," including both mental illness and chronic medical conditions. The initiative is a partnership among Missouri's Departments of Mental Health, MO HealthNet, and the Missouri Coalition of Community Mental Health Centers.
State Profile
January 20, 2011 - Minnesota plans to use the ACA's Medicaid health homes option to build on its current statewide medical home initiative, which began in 2003. Jeffrey Schiff, M.D., the medical director of health care programs at Minnesota's Department of Human Services, said that the provision "is very compatible with our program.
State Profile
October 22, 2010 - Some states are using regulatory oversight of nursing facilities to advance the culture change movement and promote resident-centered care. For example, Rhode Island's nursing home survey agency, part of its Department of Health, has prioritized measures of quality of life—in addition to measures of clinical care—in its nursing home survey and certification process.
State Profile
October 22, 2010 - Another approach to improving the quality of care as well as the quality of life for recipients of long-term care involves development of a high-quality and stable workforce. Michigan is focusing on the needs of its direct-care workers (e.g., nursing assistants, home care aides) as part of the foundation for its quality improvement activities.
State Profile
October 22, 2010 - State budget constraints and a cap on the annual nursing facility provider fee have resulted in the cancellation of P4P payments for applications submitted in the year ended June 30, 2010, but the model Colorado developed may serve as a blueprint that could be replicated in other states and could be reinstated in Colorado, as budgets permit.
State Profile
August 11, 2010 - Virginia is among the 21 states with a lawsuit challenging the federal health care legislation, but it is also preparing to implement reform, acknowledging that the legal challenge may take years to resolve and the federal law may prevail.
State Profile
August 11, 2010 - Pennsylvania is building on its existing Office of Health Care Reform, established by Governor Edward G. Rendell in 2003, to implement national reform.
State Profile
August 11, 2010 - Colorado is one of many states that will have a new governor and administration in January 2011. The current administration considered how to prioritize the tasks related to national reform, and how to leave behind a good transition plan and roadmap for the incoming team.
State Profile
July 8, 2010 - This Clinical Guide—designed to accompany the Bright Futures Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents—provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance about the most effective and efficient ways to deliver child preventive services.
Tool
July 7, 2010 - The Colorado Children's Healthcare Access Program is a nonprofit organization created to address barriers that have prevented private pediatric and family practices from accepting children enrolled in Medicaid and providing them with a medical home.
Case Study
May 19, 2010 - Illinois has partnered with Florida on a CHIPRA grant to improve the quality of care for children. Over five years, the grant will provide just over $11 million in federal funding for the two states to use to advance quality projects.
State Profile