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Dear Marshall Clement,
Beginning January 1, 2025, the Medicaid inmate exclusion policy will be partially waived for young people who are incarcerated. Benefits of this change include improved access to mental health and substance use disorder screening, diagnostics, treatment; access to support the physical health care needs of returning young adults; and transitions from pre- to post-release.
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services has recently released guidance for the Provision of Medicaid and CHIP Services to Incarcerated Youth.
In preparation for these changes, correctional administrators should do the following:
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Establish partnerships with Medicaid agencies, healthcare providers, juvenile justice institutions, and child welfare agencies.
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Identify eligible youth and young adults who are up to 21 years old (and up to 26 for foster care youth or young adults formerly in the foster care system).
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Create a timeline and plan to develop policies and procedures for screening, assessment, case management with behavioral health partners, contracted providers, and managed care organizations (if applicable).
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Develop data-sharing protocols with corrections, state Medicaid agencies, community-based health care organizations, and other key partners.
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Develop written protocols for pre-release Medicaid enrollment/reactivation, documentation, and information management for youth and young adults during reentry, including case management after release.
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Establish monitoring and evaluation processes to understand the impact of these changes and the services used by youth and young adults.
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Train correctional staff on the importance of Medicaid during reentry in reducing recidivism and increasing health outcomes, the specifics of the enrollment process, and roles and responsibilities of different staff members.
We recently hosted a webinar discussing the impact of these changes. The recording can be found here, along with other relevant resources.
WATCH THE WEBINAR
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