The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation released a report outlining key strategies for maintaining Medicaid coverage when the federal government ends the COVID-19 public health emergency, a regulatory transition that will put many eligible individuals at risk of becoming uninsured.
The COVID-19 public health emergency is slated to end in July. At that point, Massachusetts’s Medicaid program, MassHealth, will resume updating members’ eligibility through its usual redetermination process. There are concerns that some members’ eligibility will not be verifiable while others may become newly eligible for Health Connector coverage, but not successfully enroll. The risk of coverage loss is especially acute for individuals who are homeless or have unstable housing and others who have experienced changes in their employment, income, and housing during the pandemic – social factors experienced disproportionately by people of color.
MassHealth has already taken steps to increase outreach to members and work with community-based organizations and Medicaid-managed care plans to underscore the importance of updating eligibility information and expediting data requests related to redeterminations. The report recommends additional steps that MassHealth should consider to help maintain coverage for eligible individuals, including:
- Processing pending redeterminations over a 12-month “unwinding” period permitted by the federal government, to spread out the workload and provide extra time to reach members.
- Proactively addressing returned mail by increasing efforts to get updated contact information before coverage is terminated.
- Implementing a text messaging strategy to send reminders to members to respond to information requests. Similar to many other states, MassHealth is working toward, but has not yet implemented, a text messaging strategy.
- Issuing clear guidance to Medicaid-managed care plans and Accountable Care Organizations to set expectations for the renewal process, including outreach to individuals.
- Maintaining strong oversight and monitoring data, while providing regular updates on the redetermination process to community-based organizations, health plans, and the public.
- Ensuring a smooth transition to the Health Connector for those no longer eligible for MassHealth coverage.
The report, titled “The End of the Federal Continuous Coverage Requirement in MassHealth: Key Strategies for Reducing Covering Loss,” was commissioned by the foundation’s Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute and produced by Manatt Health.
Contact: Greg Turner at 617.243.9950 or greg@ballcg.com.