This webinar, hosted by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) with support from the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), is the fifth and final in an Assisted Living for Medi-Cal Enrollees learning series. The series is exploring opportunities to strengthen cross-sector partnerships to improve appropriate, timely, and effective use of assisted living communities for Medi-Cal enrollees, including older adults, people with disabilities, and individuals with behavioral health needs.
When calculating the potential return-on-investment for Medi-Cal Community Supports, managed care plans (MCPs) need to consider the nature and duration of each support. This can be complicated for the Assisted Living Facility Transitions Community Support, which offers flexible supports to help residents with both short- and/or long-term stays, as well as transitions into and out of assisted living settings (e.g., to hospitals or skilled nursing facilities). This webinar explored the benefits and challenges of that flexibility within California’s Medi-Cal landscape, highlighting a variety of stakeholder perspectives. It examined how Medicaid health plans in other states with managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) use assisted living to successfully promote institutional diversion and transitions for members with functional needs.
The session and the learning series concluded with an open discussion among attendees on steps CHCF can take to build on the momentum of this series and strengthen cross-sector partnerships that improve the use of assisted living communities for Medi-Cal enrollees.
Agenda
I. Welcome and Overview
Speaker: Zackiya Grant-Knight, Senior Program Officer, CHCS, and Kate Myers, Senior Program Officer, CHCF
Z. Grant-Knight and K. Myers welcomed participants and provided an overview of the Assisted Living for Medi-Cal Enrollees: Virtual Learning Series. Z. Grant-Knight summarized the webinar series and reviewed the assisted living “journey map” for Medi-Cal populations. She described how assisted living can be used to support people with varying care needs, both in the short- and long-term, including through end-of-life.
II. Panel Discussion: Understanding Length of Stay and Related Benefits and Challenges
Panelists: Mark Cimino, CEO, CiminoCare; Angela Kutnerian, Owner and Executive Vice President, WellPointe; Katie Panarella, Program Director, Community Supports, Anthem Blue Cross
Z. Grant-Knight moderated a panel addressing how various stakeholders approach using assisted living to provide a range of supports, including stable long-term housing, palliative care, a step up for a temporary recovery period, a step down for a short- or long-term lower needs setting, and transitional care. The discussion covered how to appropriately budget for these options and how to navigate related benefits and challenges.
III. Approach to Assisted Living in MLTSS in Other States and Broader Policy Implications
Speakers: Stephanie Rasmussen, Vice President of LTSS Product & Strategy, Centene, and Kerry Landry, independent consultant
Moderator: Sarah Triano, Associate Director of Long-Term Services and Supports & Disability Policy, CHCS
S. Rasmussen shared how Centene, the nation’s largest Medicaid and MLTSS health plan, and its affiliates use assisted living to promote institutional diversion and transition of MLTSS members with disabilities, and how they approached financing a model with variable lengths of stay. S. Triano facilitated a discussion with S. Rasmussen and K. Landry on the policy contexts that allow this option to work successfully in other states, like Florida, and what it would take for California to implement a similar approach, with unique considerations for people with behavioral health disabilities.
IV. Moderated Discussion: What Comes Next?
Moderator: Emma Rauscher, Program Officer, CHCS
E. Rauscher facilitated a discussion on next steps and what types of support participants would find useful for beginning and/or continuing to promote the increased use of the Assisted Living Facility Transitions Community Support.
V. Wrap-Up
