In early December 2012, New York launched the second phase of its Medicaid Health Home program. Through enhanced funding available under the Affordable Care Act, the state aims to eventually extend similar case management services to nearly one million of its five million Medicaid beneficiaries, in both the fee-for-service and managed care programs. The state is using an earlier pilot – the Chronic Illness Demonstration Project (CIDP) – as a model for its health homes approach.

This profile from the Center for Health Care Strategies details experiences of the CIDP initiative, which included six regional pilots focused on improving care for Medicaid beneficiaries with chronic physical and behavioral health needs. The three-year CIDP effort was part of the Rethinking Care Program, a CHCS initiative made possible by Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit, to test new strategies for improving health care quality and controlling spending for Medicaid’s highest-need, highest-cost populations. The CIDP initiative was also supported by the New York State Health Foundation.

Takeaways from New York’s CIDP initiative offer valuable lessons to other states across the country that are exploring health home options to improve care management for complex need populations.