|
Welcome to the State of Vermont Agency of Human Services (AHS) and Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) communication blog. The State utilizes this site to share a clear and consistent message regarding AHS and DVHA major initiatives to any and all interested parties. This blog is updated on a periodic basis and you can follow it here directly or be alerted to it by receiving our twitter messages (@DVHAVermont). Thank you for your interest.
|
We’re only
days away from the 2023 Medicaid Enterprise System Conference (MESC) and we
know you’ve been anxiously awaiting Vermont’s annual pre-conference communication. This allows us to maximize the opportunities
at MESC, to further build relationships, gain additional information, and
increase awareness about industry standards, best practices, and lessons
learned.
Vermont
continues to move forward with transforming its Medicaid Enterprise and serving
Vermonters in the most time efficient, secure and integrated manner. Vermont has five Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS) Certified modules:
Health Information Exchange (HIE) (Vermont Information Technology
Leaders (VITL)), Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) (Gainwell & Sandata), Pharmacy
Benefit Management (PBM), (Change Healthcare), Care Management module (Acentra
Health (formerly Kepro (formerly eQHealth))), and Provider Management Module
(PMM) (Gainwell Technologies). Vermont
is leveraging the expertise of our Independent Verification and Validation
(IV&V) vendor (CSG Government Solutions) as we continue our Medicaid
Enterprise transformation.
Regarding Vermont’s Enterprise:
v Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) Program:
o
Note-1: Medicaid Data Lake and Analytic Solution
(MDLAS) procurement was awarded to Deloitte and executed in July 2023.
o
Note-2: Vermont will be releasing a Request for
Proposals (RFP) for an Analytics Data Warehouse (ADW) to be implemented and will
integrate with our MDLAS. Be advised the
ADW will be maintained by Vermont’s HIE.
o
Note-3: Vermont Medicaid is not a traditional Managed
Care Organization (MCO), a traditional Accountable Care Organization (ACO), nor
all Fee-for-Service. Vermont runs a
publicly operated PIHP (Prepaid Inpatient Health Plan) delivery model
through its 1115 demonstration waiver.
One component of the PIHP delivery model is the ability to implement payment
options available under a managed care delivery structure. The Vermont
Medicaid Next Generation ACO (VMNG ACO) payment model is a program for which a
risk-bearing Accountable Care Organization (ACO) receives a prospective payment
and assumes accountability for the costs and quality of care for prospectively
attributed Medicaid members. Therefore, Vermont must report encounter
data for both traditional medical and Home and Community Based (HCBS) or Long-Term
Services and Supports (LTSS) programs because encounter data doesn't fall into
traditional reporting protocols.
v
Vermont is interested in scheduling MMIS Core Solution Demonstrations.
Context and expectations for those demonstrations follow below.
o
Vermont’s MMIS Core
Claims reprocurement approach:
§ MMIS Procurement Assistance RFP: Vermont will release
an RFP for services to work with VT MMIS staff to deliver a cost-benefit
analysis, roadmap, and an MMIS Claims and Fiscal Agent (FA) Services (MMIS
& FA) RFP. MMIS Procurement Assistance
RFP to be released this calendar year.
§ MMIS & FA RFP: The timing of
this re-procurement is TBD. This MMIS & FA RFP will leverage NASPO with added details to address Vermont-specific needs. It's
these specific needs (some identified further below) that we are interested
in hearing at MESC about how vendor solutions can support them.
o
Vermont wants to hear
from MMIS solution vendors and see just how configurable your MMIS solution is
for implementing Vermont-specific needs. We realize an hour can limit what can
be covered but at a minimum SoV would set up time for vendors to cover the
following:
§ Your current “go-to-market” solution:
· What's it called and when was it CMS Certified?
· Where are you actively implementing this solution right
now?
· What is your average implementation time?
§ Show how configurable the system is for implementing any
changes associated with Encounter claims for ACO or HCBS/LTSS programming (aka
$0 paid claims)
§ Using the example above, show the system’s ability to
receive encounter data from Medicaid enrolled and non-Medicaid enrolled providers
focusing on how the system captures and displays key elements such as:
§
Member
§
Service information – amount, duration, number
delivered
§
Place of service
§
Dates of service
§
Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) data if provided.
§
Ability to use ‘shadow’ nature of the service –
delivered but paid $0 because the provider is being paid differently (e.g., a
bundled payment or a PMPM) but to capture a Would Have Paid amount,
based on codes, so that we can track what the service would have otherwise
cost, and do cost avoidance if necessary.
§
If using claims to do this, then a way to allow
these to travel down a different path than a regular Medicaid claim with all of
the checks, edits and audits.
§
Ability to easily distinguish Medicaid /
non-Medicaid in terms of services delivered in a program with mixed attribution
– easily reported separately and together.
o
Benefit package flexibility
§
Ability to create programs with services via a
configurable mechanism.
§
Ability to include / exclude benefits, services
from the Medicaid Total Cost of Care
§
Ability to adjust attribution of members to programs.
§
Easier linking of members and providers to these
different benefit packages and programs
§
Easy way to change rates for services with
one-to-many relationships with different programs.
o
Financial module allowing for easier tracking of
value-based purchasing arrangements with providers.
§
Bundles
§
PMPMs
§
Case rates, including tiers.
§
Special program payments
§
Review of Reimbursement Methodology – how
flexible is your solution with regard to the procedures and adding codes to pay
for new services such as housing.
o
Additional
solution flexibility to address COVID-19 waiver, 1115 Waiver, and the upcoming
unwind activities related to members and providers.
o
Ability to integrate with
provider information, including demographics and patient population.
The following are additional
details of other Vermont related efforts:
v Integrated Eligibility and Enrollment (IE&E) Program:
o
Vermont has engaged in multiple Requests for Information (RFI) to increase
the collaboration and exchange of information with the vendor community.
o
VT-IES is an integral
component of Vermont’s IE&E System Modernization efforts and will work
alongside the IE&E Noticing Project to simplify the process of
applying for and managing healthcare and financial benefits for Vermonters.
o
The VT-IES Project is in
the final stage of RFP development and is supported by NTT DATA. The RFP is
slated for release during 4th calendar quarter of 2023.
o
For additional information
on VT-IES, please visit Integrated Eligibility and
Enrollment (IE&E) System | Agency of Human Services (vermont.gov)
v Health Information Exchange (HIE) Program:
o
Has started various
initiatives related to establishing Data Governance for AHS
o
Key stakeholders
have met to discuss our modernization efforts and the future role HIE plays to
address Social Determinants of Health (SDoH)
v
Systems
Testing workgroup – as you may recall
from last year, Vermont, with the support of NESCSO, has established this
workgroup to discuss and review best practices for User Acceptance Testing,
Section 508 Compliance, Testing Maturity, Testing Automation, and more. The next System Testing workgroup meeting
will be held September 21, 2023. If you are interested in joining, please sign
up here. (State and State
partners only, please). This workgroup
has been working with TransformHHS (tHHS) on their workgroup page and State
Health Dashboard (SHD). If you have any
questions, please contact Vermont’s Quality Testing Director, Renee Taylor, at renee.taylor@vermont.gov.
v
Certification
workgroup – as you may recall from last
year, Vermont, with the support of CMS, Shelley Dimick, Vermont’s Certification
Director, has established a national Certification workgroup to support State
Medicaid Agencies collaboration. This workgroup shares best practices,
lessons learned, and provides clarity related to CMS Certification policies and
workflows. Tuesday (8/22) morning, Shelley will be having an in-person S-TAG
Certification meeting over breakfast at 8:30. If you are interested in
joining this workgroup of if you have any questions, please contact Shelley at Shelley.Dimick@vermont.gov.
Vermont staff attending MESC include the following:
We look forward to our interaction during MESC - safe travels and see you in Denver!
Good morning everyone and greetings from the great Green Mountain State!
The State of Vermont, Agency of Human Services (AHS), Department of Vermont
Health Access (DVHA) is excited to announce the posting of an Independent
Verification and Validation (IV&V) Request for Proposals (RFP).
We are seeking to establish a contract with a vendor to provide IV&V
services associated with the modernization of the State’s Medicaid Enterprise
System (MES).
The RFP can be accessed at the following link: http://www.vermontbusinessregistry.com/BidPreview.aspx?BidID=57122
NOTE: when accessing this web-page there are two links on this web-posting:
As a reminder, tell your family and friends of our blog (http://vermont-ahs-dvha.blogspot.com/)and
twitter (@DVHAVermont) account
to stay informed of what’s happening with our modernization efforts.
Have a great day and weekend.
Good morning and greetings from
the Green Mountain State! 8/11/2022
We look forward to engaging
attendees and discussing your creative visions and new ideas as we continue the
build out of our Medicaid Enterprise. We are looking for experienced and
proven partners that are innovators and visionaries. We want to hear
where you recently have been implementing solutions and we are interested in
learning more about sharing and integrating technologies/capabilities across
our programs. We want to know the good and the challenging aspects you’ve
encountered. As identified in CMS’ Seven Standards and Conditions, we
desire solutions, services and components that are flexible, scalable and can
be leveraged/shared across boundaries.
Vermont staff attending MESC
include the following:
Good afternoon everyone and greetings
from the great Green Mountain State.
Vermont’s Agency of Digital Services (ADS), the Agency of Human Services (AHS),
and the Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) are excited to announce the
posting of a Request for Proposal (RFP) to contract for Vermont’s Medicaid Data
Lake and Analytic Solutions (MDLAS).
This is part of the State’s larger effort for our Medicaid Data
Warehouse and Analytic Solution (MDWAS).
This RFP is located at: Department
of Buildings & General Services (state.vt.us).
Have a great day. Stay warm!
Thanks