Home  >  State Resource Center  >  Events & Announcements

Events & Announcements

Upcoming Events

Demonstration Grant for Testing Experience and Functional Assessment Tools (TEFT) 

On August 24, 2012 the Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a four year funding opportunity announcement to states and territories  funded by Section 2701 of the Affordable Care Act. CMS will offer $45 million to ten qualified state applicants over four years. The grant program, known and TEFT (Demonstration Grant for Testing Experience and Functional Assessment Tools (TEFT) in Community-Based Long Term Services and Supports) is designed to test quality measurement tools and demonstrate e-health in Medicaid long term services and supports. The TEFT initiative also includes contracts for technical assistance and evaluation, and two Interagency Agreements with the Department of Defense and the Office of the National Coordinator. For more information on TEFT, and to see the grant solicitation, go to the following link.

Second Applicant Teleconference:

When: September 25, 2012

Time:  2:00PM - 3:00 PM EST

Phone: 1-877-267-1577  Meeting ID: 9144

Past Events

Information Technology in Support of Health Insurance Exchanges and Modernized Medicaid Eligibility Systems: Early Innovator Status Update

The Medicaid & CHIP Collaboratives (MAC Collaboratives) project, established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is launching an all-state webinar series to share emerging practices and recommendations for advancing high-performing state health coverage programs. The webinars, which will feature state, CMS, and expert panelists, are designed to facilitate health coverage program design innovations. The sessions are open to all interested states and federal agencies, and additional audiences as appropriate.

WHEN:           August 9, 11:30-1 pm ET
AUDIENCE:
 State Medicaid staff plus IT leads, business owners, and vendors responsible for Medicaid eligibility system modernization 
                       or health insurance exchange implementation   
REGISTER:   https://chcs.webex.com/chcs/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=718758969

Single Streamlined Application Data Elements Open for Comment under PRA

On Monday July 2, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made information available regarding the single, streamlined application for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Exchange to help establish the system of coverage envisioned by the Affordable Care Act.  The data elements, open for comment, are available below. Public comments will be accepted for 60 days after the information is published in the Federal Register. For more information about how to submit comments, please see the Federal Register notice on display at https://federalregister.gov/a/2012-16508

Grant Opportunity: State Systems Interoperability and Integration Project

On behalf of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) as part of the ACF Interoperability Initiative, I am pleased to announce a unique and time-sensitive grant opportunity - "State Systems Interoperability and Integration Projects".

ACF, through the Office of Child Support Enforcement, invites State human service agencies to submit competitive grant applications that explore and plan improved interoperability and integration in eligibility and enrollment, business process and workflows, case management, and other related functions across human services information technology systems, and explore integration with other programs. Grantees can explore systems design and implementation options, determine the costs and benefits of different options, the potential client outcomes and impacts of each option, and develop concrete implementation plans as well as produce a road map for other States.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Partnership Fund for Program Integrity Innovation provided ACF funding for this opportunity. Thus, each 12-month planning grant will also specifically demonstrate how enhanced interoperability and integration apply to the OMB goals of improving service delivery, increasing program efficiency, and/or reducing errors and enhancing program integrity.

The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) can be located at www.grants.gov by searching for Funding Opportunity Number HHS-2012-ACF-OCSE-FQ-0551. Applications are due Friday, August 17, 2012. Current information on a conference call for potential applicants can be found on the ACF Interoperability Initiative web page (http://transition.acf.hhs.gov/about/interoperability). The call is scheduled for Thursday, June 28 from 3:30 - 4:30 pm Eastern. A transcript of the call will also be posted to the website. Thank you, and we look forward to your participation!

Sincerely,
George Sheldon
Acting Assistant Secretary
for Children and Families
For questions or to obtain additional information regarding the State Systems Interoperability and Integration Projects opportunity, please contact 
Sheila Drake at Sheila.Drake@acf.hhs.gov or 202.401.0904.

Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference (MESC) – Boston, Massachusetts – August 19-23, 2012

The national Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference (formerly known as the MMIS Conference) is an annual meeting for state, federal and private sector individuals to provide them with opportunities to exchange ideas related to Medicaid IT systems  and health policy affected by those systems. States volunteer to host the event and work with a committee of federal, state and private sector representatives to plan and execute the conference. Over the past nine years, the five-day MESC conferences have been held in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Montana, Rhode Island, California, Tennessee, Illinois, Oregon, and Texas. Business meetings are held on Sunday and general sessions and breakout sessions are held Monday through Thursday. The conference topics typically focus on issues related to Medicaid Enterprise systems procurement, funding, and operations. CMS participates and offers sessions on their current initiatives related to the Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA), health information technology (HIT), and federal legislation such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

For more information, see www.mesconference.org.

2nd Annual CMS National Medicaid/CHIP Quality Conference: Improving Care and Proving It!
Baltimore, Maryland – June 14-15, 2012

The second annual CMS Medicaid/CHIP Quality Conference: Improving Care and Proving It! will be held on June 14-15, 2012 at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore, MD.  The Conference will include breakout sessions on data collection and use, children's health care quality measurement, as well as preventive and oral health.  The Conference will also highlight CMS priority initiatives and include State technical assistance and resources for Medicaid and CHIP quality measurement.  The final conference agenda is available via the link above.

CMS Provider Screening Innovator Challenge
May 30, 2012- TBD, But expected to be completed by October/November 2012

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is launching the “CMS Provider Screening Innovator Challenge.”  This Challenge is sponsored by CMS and is presented as part of the Partnership for Program Integrity Innovation program, and will be administered by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration’s (NASA) Federal Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation.  This Challenge addresses our goals of improving our abilities to streamline operations, screen providers, and reduce fraud and abuse. Specifically, the challenge is an innovation competition to develop a multi-State, multi-program provider screening software application which would be capable of risk scoring, credentialing validation, identity authentication, and sanction checks, while lowering burden on providers and reducing administrative and infrastructure expenses for States and Federal programs. For additional information see documentation below:

Overview of the Medicaid Eligibility Final Rule, March 22 - May 10 2012

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services is hosting a series of webinars to explain key components of the Medicaid Eligibility final rule. For more information refer to the Eligibility & Enrollment Final Rule Webinars page.

4th Annual CMS Multi-State Medicaid HITECH Conference, Baltimore, Maryland – April 10-12, 2012

The conference is an excellent opportunity for the Center for Medicaid and Chip Services to meet with colleagues from State Medicaid agencies, federal partners and health information technology industry leaders to encourage exchange of programmatic information and share best practices related to the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, Health Information Technology and Health Information Exchange (HIT/HIE).
For more information, see www.medicaidhitechconference.com

Connecting Kids to Coverage: 2nd National Children's Health Insurance Summit, November 2011

The Summit, held in Chicago on November 1-3, 2011, brought together Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) outreach grantees, state agencies, tribes, health care providers, nonprofit groups, researchers, advocates and others focused on reaching out, enrolling and retaining eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP. For two and a half days, nearly 400 attendees from all over the country participated in a wide range of substantive workshops and communications skill-building sessions designed to share effective strategies and innovative approaches to outreach and enrollment. For more details view the conference agenda, or visit http://insurekidsnow.gov/professionals/events/index.html> for additional materials and presentations.

Money Follows the Person Summit October 17 - 19, 2011

The 2011 MFP Summit convened representatives from the MFP to share information and best practices related to activities for transitioning individuals with disabilities to community living and achieving the rebalancing goals of the program. See more information at www.mfp-tac.com/2011_Summit_Materials.aspx.

Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) National Eligibility Conference, October 2011

On September 7-9, 2011, CMCS held it's national eligibility conference entitled, "On the Road to 2014: Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Eligibility and Enrollment," which offered states and other interested stakeholders with two days of discussion and interaction around CMCS and state collective work in implementing the Affordable Care Act. The conference was well attended by more than 300 individuals and was held in Baltimore, MD. The National Eligibility Conference agenda can be downloaded for your convenience. In addition, presentations and other materials are also available.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) National Medicaid/CHIP Quality Conference: Improving Care, Lowering Costs, August 2011

The first annual CMS Medicaid/CHIP Quality Conference: Improving Care, Lowering Costs was held on August 23-24, 2011 and had 250 participants. The conference included a networking and collaboration session, highlighted CMS priority initiatives, and included state technical assistance and resources for establishing infrastructure and tools for Medicaid and CHIP quality measurement. The conference included break out sessions on data collection, initial core set quality measures reporting, analytic support, and program improvement. Please look for our “Save-the-Date” announcement for the 2012 CMS Medicaid and CHIP Quality Conference very soon!