Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health Friday Notes

January 9, 2015

In this issue

Major Changes to Medicaid Coverage Regions

2014 Home Visiting Initiative Report Released

E-Cigarette Legislation Presented to Governor Snyder

State Awards $1.34 Million to 44 Health Innovation Projects

Major Changes to Medicaid Coverage Regions

A signal of major change for the Medicaid health plans began this week when the Department of Community Health announced changes in the upcoming request for proposal (RFP) for the Comprehensive Health Plan Contract for Michigan's Medicaid Health Plans (MHP). The Comprehensive Health Plan Contract provides health care services to Michigan's Medicaid managed care beneficiaries, and is being rebid during fiscal year 2015 for new contracts to begin in fiscal year 2016.

In making the announcement, the department said it would change the current MIChild health care plan for low-income children, moving it from from a stand-alone Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to a Medicaid expansion group. This change is contingent on approval of a waiver submission to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The biggest change in the RFP will be how regions that the plans will cover will be defined.
The changes will conform to the "prosperity regions" that were announced several years ago by Governor Snyder.

Each plan making a bid will have to demonstrate it can cover every county in a region. The department also said bidders looking to bid in Regions 2 and 3, which cover the northern Lower Peninsula, must bid on both regions. They cannot bid separately for one of the two regions.

And the DCH announcement also said the plans will have to show adequate network coverage to ensure certain patient-to-provider ratios are met.

The announcement did not say when bidding on the contract would actually begin; the department will take questions on the announcement and the changes until Saturday, January 31.

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2014 Home Visiting Initiative Report Released

The 2014 Home Visiting Initiative Report has been submitted to the Michigan Legislature by the Departments of Community Health, Education and Human Services as required by Public Act 291 of 2012.

The report looks at the five most commonly implemented evidence-based home visiting models in the state--Early Head Start Home Visiting, Healthy Families America, Maternal Infant Health Program, Nurse Family Partnership and Parents as Teachers -- as well as promising programs such as the Infant Mental Health model.

Staff from the three departments worked over the past year with expert assistance to assemble a set of indicators and measures to communicate the outcomes achieved by the state's home visiting programs. The report profiles the indicators and the corresponding data available from several funding streams, primarily the Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) federal funding and the Maternal Infant Health Program (MIHP) funded with Medicaid match.

Michigan is one of the first states to attempt this type of reporting. A core set of national indicators is also under development with leadership from the Pew Charitable Trusts Home Visiting Campaign and is expected to be released this year.

The report notes the decentralized nature of home visiting, multiple funding streams, multi-agency oversight and disparate data collection methodologies all as complicating factors for compiling and reporting data.

There are an estimated 600 home visitors and more than 25,000 families enrolled statewide. Michigan's programs are strong and offer great potential for future growth, the report found.

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E-Cigarette Legislation Presented To Governor Snyder

A package of bills that would prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes to minors without classifying them as tobacco products was formally presented January 2 to Governor Snyder. The governor has 14 days to decide whether to sign or veto the legislation. If he vetoes the bills, the new Legislature could not override him. Under the Constitution, only the Legislature that passed them could do so. Gov. Snyder also has the option to take no action on the bills, meaning they would be pocket vetoed upon the expiration of the 14-day period following presentation of the bills.

Governor Snyder has joined MDCH and a coalition of health advocates, including MCMCH, in criticizing the bills because they would classify e-cigarettes separately from tobacco products and exempt them from regulations, like tobacco taxes and the workplace smoking ban.

MCMCH members Dr. Charles Barone, chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Henry Ford Medical Group, and Dr. Lawrence Reynolds, president and CEO of Mott Children's Health Center, co-authored an editorial published by the Detroit Free Press this week, urging the governor to veto the bills and stressing the dangers e-cigarettes pose to youth.

The legislation (SB 667, SB 668 and HB 4997) has been at the center of debate for months.
Last April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed rules that would regulate e-cigarettes and prohibit sales to minors, but at least one sponsor did not think that would change the course of the legislation. The rules have not been finalized but could be at any time. Specifically, they would prohibit the sale of e-cigarettes nationwide to those under the age of 18 and require e-cigarette manufacturers to disclose to the FDA all ingredients.

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State Awards $1.34 Million to 44 Health Innovation Projects

Late last month MDCH announced the recipients of Michigan's Health Innovation Grants. The 44 one-time projects will each receive up to $35,000 in funding.

The Health Innovation Grants are intended to encourage creative approaches to helping bridge the gap between creative, collaborative ideas and their implementation. Michigan is looking to encourage innovative advances in health care that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of health services in the state.

Included in this year's awardees were projects aimed at addressing services for children with autism, chronic disease, health transportation, behavioral health, substance abuse, homelessness, health disparities in children and dental care.

Among the winners, Michigan Primary Care Association, in collaboration with the Michigan Community Health Worker Alliance, is receiving $35,000 to develop and implement a business plan for establishing a Community Health Worker (CHW) certification in our state, as well as the financing and long-term planning for incorporating these front-line workers into the health care team. Genesee Intermediate School District also received funding to incorporate multiple innovative ideas to provide asthma management in the Head Start setting.

A full listing of all 44 award winners can be found here.

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Contributors to this Issue
Gongwer News Service
HealthDay
MDCH
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Quick Links . . .

Lyon Named Interim DHS Director

Just before the end of the year Governor Snyder named Nick Lyon as the Interim Director of the Department of Human Services in addition to his role as Director of the Department of Community Health. Lyon's role at DHS began January 1, 2015 as Director Maura Corrigan has retired.

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MPCA Hiring for Three Positions for Linking Clinical Care with Community Supports Initiative

MPCA is hiring for the positions of Director and two Program Specialists of the Linking Clinical Care with Community Supports initiative (LC3S). This initiative will expand the work of Michigan Health Centers in implementing interdisciplinary team-based approaches through the incorporation of Community Health Workers as members of the primary care team. Read more

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MPCA Hosting Retirement Celebration Honoring Doug Paterson January 15
To celebrate Doug Paterson's tremendous service and contributions to MPCA and Michigan Health Centers, MPCA is hosting an open house in honor of his retirement on January 15, 3-5:30 pm at its office in Lansing. You are cordially invited to the open house, and to send cards or electronic congratulations in advance. Cards may be mailed to MPCA, 7215 Westshire Drive, Lansing, MI 48917. Electronic congratulations may be emailed to Erin Rogers at erogers@mpca.net. Read more

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Maternal Exercise in Pregnancy Cuts Hypertension Risk in Children
Children born to mothers who met or exceeded the recommended exercise levels during pregnancy had significantly lower systolic blood pressure rates at ages 8 to 10, according to a study in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. Read more

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Childhood Obesity Programs May Influence Parents to Lose Weight
Data on about 800 parents showed that those whose children joined an obesity-prevention program lost a modest amount of weight compared with the controls. "We've provided new evidence that community wide school-based obesity prevention efforts may go beyond the target audience of young children and influence the weight status of their parent, who helps decide what they eat and how active they are at home," researchers said in a news release.
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Text Message Reminders Boosted Pediatric Flu Shot Rate
A study in Pediatrics revealed parents who received a text reminder were more likely than those who did not to bring their children for a second influenza vaccine. About 57% of those who received the paper reminder returned for the second shot, 67% of those receiving the basic text reminder returned and nearly 75% of those who received educational information as well as a text reminder brought their children back for the second dose, the researchers reported.