In the past few years, states have not only moved the health coverage for foster children to Medicaid health plans, but they are increasingly creating specialty Medicaid plans for foster children. The most recent states to award contracts for specialty Medicaid health plans for foster children are Illinois, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

The Illinois Medicaid plan for youth currently and formerly in foster care, called YouthCare, started in 2020. Meridian Health Plan of Illinois operates the program—providing;medical, behavioral health, dental, vision, and pharmacy coverage for youth through age 21;(see;Winning Contract For YouthCare Health . . .

Want To Read More? Log In Or Become A Free Member
Resource Available For All OPEN MINDS Circle Members
If you are already a member, log in to your account to access this resource and more.

You can become a free member and get access now. Learn more about the OPEN MINDS Circle Market Intelligence Service Membership. Reach out to our team at info@openminds.com, or call us at 877-350-6463.

A Paid OPEN MINDS Circle Membership provides unlimited organizational access to all OPEN MINDS strategic advice, market intelligence, and management best practices – over 250,000 resources!

Medicare

The Medicare program is a health insurance program funded by the federal government for older adults, aged 65 and above, as well as younger individuals who have disabilities or end-stage renal disease. There are both strategic opportunities and challenges for health and human service provider organizations serving Medicare beneficiaries, who often have complex health and social support needs. As a result, Medicare plans are looking for innovative services and initiatives that demonstrate a return-on-investment in spending and consumer outcomes.


Medicare mental health specialists with high uptake of telemedicine mental health services between 2018 and 2023 had a 0.88 percentage point higher share of services provided to fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries in rural areas, compared to mental health specialists in the lowest telemedicine uptake quartile, according to a recent study. Much of the increase in rural service use was due to existing patients moving farther away from their specialists, rather than new rural beneficiaries seeking out… Read