Legislation on health coverage, behavioral health and public health continues to be front-and-center at the Indiana Statehouse. The first half of session formally closed at the end of February, with bills that had a successful 3^rd reading in their chamber of origin crossing over to the other side for additional committee hearings.

Senate Bill 1 - Behavioral Health Matters - Provides that the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) will apply for a Medicaid state plan amendment, a waiver, or an amendment to an existing waiver to require reimbursement for eligible certified community behavioral health clinic services or to participate in the expansion of a community mental health services demonstration program. The legislation also requires the Division of Mental Health and Addiction (DMHA) to establish and maintain a help line to provide confidential emotional support and referrals to certain resources to individuals who call the help line and that is accessible by calling a toll free telephone number.

This bill has cleared the Senate and will now move on for further consideration in the House of Representatives in the Public Health Committee.

Senate Bill 4 - Public Health Commission - Delineates core public health services and their delivery as recommended by the Governor's Public Health Commission, while also increasing state level support for these local efforts.

This bill has cleared the Senate and will now move on for further consideration in the House of Representatives Public Health Committee.

Senate Bill 318 - Audit of Medicaid Program Prescription Drug Costs - Provides that the office of the attorney general, or an independent auditor, shall conduct an audit concerning prescription drug costs for the Medicaid program. Requires the auditor to examine cost sharing, spread pricing, patient steering, proper brand and generic definitions, effective rate claw backs, medical loss ratio inflation, formulary compliance, discriminatory pricing, and any other metric determined by the attorney general. The look back period for the initial audit must be the previous five state fiscal years, and the look back period for every audit conducted thereafter must be the previous three state fiscal years. The results of an audit will be provided to the legislative council.

Senate Bill 376 Lawfully Residing Immigrants and Eligibility - Provides Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women and children under 21 who are lawfully residing immigrants and meet all other Medicaid eligibility requirements. This provision also provides eligibility for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for lawfully residing individuals who are less than 19 years of age. Under current law, eligibility is limited to those who have lawfully resided in the United States for at least 5 years, with the above groups eligible for emergency only (Package E) Medicaid.

This bill has cleared the Senate and will now move on for further consideration in the House of Representatives Family, Children and Human Affairs Committee.

House Bill 1091 - Continuous eligibility under Medicaid and CHIP - Changes the requirements for submitting eligibility information for Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrollees less than 19 to no more than once annually.

This bill has cleared 3^rd reading in the House of Representatives. It will now move on for further consideration in the Senate Health and Provider Services Committee.

House Bill 1205 - Medicaid reimbursement for school services - Requires the Family and Social Services Administration to apply for a Medicaid state plan amendment before September 1, 2023 to allow school corporations to obtain Medicaid reimbursement for specified services, which is an attempt to finalize legislative efforts by setting that deadline. The legislation also adds a school psychologist as a qualified provider for purposes of the Medicaid program and provides that a school psychologist does not need supervision or authorization from another qualified provider in order to obtain Medicaid reimbursement for certain services provided to a Medicaid recipient.

This bill did not receive a hearing in the House Public Health Committee but the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) remains committed to taking the necessary actions to create this additional reimbursement channel.

A recent Indiana Health Coverage Programs (IHCP) bulletin clarifies several points regarding the Medicaid unwinding.

About 25% of members, an estimated 500,000 Hoosiers, currently have Medicaid solely because of the continuous coverage requirements. They no longer meet eligibility requirements or did not respond to requests for documentation. These Hoosiers cannot be closed or moved to a lesser-coverage category before their full redetermination (renewal) process is complete. The state will process about 1/12 of this group each month starting in April.

This past year, about 75% of Medicaid members did continue to meet eligibility requirements. Starting in April, this group is subject to regular rules and could lose coverage if they do not respond to new requests for information by the due date or become over income. This could happen before their redetermination (renewal) date.

In 2022, the Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) added the ability to upload documents to the Benefits Portal. Members can now submit redetermination information by uploading the redetermination form and supporting verification documents like paystubs.

Sample Letter about Potential Changes to Health Coverage

Communicating Changes to Medicaid Ways You Can Help Hoosiers Stay Insured: A Toolkit is a collaborative effort of many organizations including Covering Kids & Families of Indiana, Hoosier Action and the Indiana Primary Care Association. The Toolkit was created to help organizations who serve people with Medicaid educate consumers about the Unwinding of Medicaid continuous coverage experienced the last three years. The toolkit will be updated as new information and resources become available. In February, the following was added in the resource section:

Six new organizations signed on in February to show their support of this effort. If your organization would like to show your support, please email dhiggins@ckfindiana.org.

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

This year’s theme of School Health: Connecting the Pieces gives you the opportunity to connect with individuals, organizations, schools, and communities with whom you work.

Visit great exhibits and get the latest news and updates from school health professionals all around the state. Network with your peers and win prizes! Dynamic speakers, subject matter experts, exhibitors and networking opportunities will provide you with valuable information, resources, and inspiration to move your initiatives forward.

Since 2008, the Indiana School Health Network has assembled key stakeholders and experts in school health for the annual School Health Conference.  Each year, professionals from a wide variety of disciplines attend the conference including but not limited to:

This monthly webinar series will provide stakeholders with information to prepare for the Medicaid and CHIP continuous enrollment unwinding and will take place on March 22, April 26, May 24, June 28 @ 12:00pm.