Please complete this form to submit a request to initiate a MassHealth Technical Assistance (TA) project. TA projects are expected to be completed within the first TA Card year (i.e. September 21, 2018 – December 31, 2019). A TA project that is completed within the first TA Card year can be the first phase of a longer project. Individual ACOs and CPs can also combine TA Cards to undertake a larger joint TA project. If you have any questions about completing this form, please contact Abt Associates (the TA Program Managing Vendor).
Is your organization an ACO or a CP?
- ACO
- CP X
Please identify the person in your ACO or CP who is directly accountable for the progress and successful completion of the requested TA:
- Name: Jane Doe
- Title: CP Program Director
- Organization: CP #1
- Email: JaneDoe@gmail.com
- Phone number
[These will be data entry fields]
Please identify the Competency Area(s) the requested TA is intended to strengthen:
- Competency Area #1 X Respect, understand, and engage MassHealth members
- Competency Area #2 X Honor, enlist, and develop provider and care team insights and capabilities
- Competency Area #3 X Access, apply, and exchange data across all entities involved in MassHealth member wellness and care
- Competency Area #4 Develop and implement financial models that promote provider and staff buy-in and advance the achievement of quality benchmarks, appropriate utilization of care, and long-term organizational sustainability
- Competency Area #5 Provide coordinated care and/or complex care management that is highly responsive to MassHealth member needs and preferences
- Competency Area #6 Actively develop and maintain a foundation of, and disseminate up-to-date knowledge in, all areas relevant to building and running a high performing, sustainable MassHealth ACO or CP
Please describe your proposed TA project, including the goals of the project. (Max: 2-3 paragraphs):
Our CP would like to leverage our care management system and the technology developed by our partner ACO(s) to pilot interoperability with the ACO EHR to collect A1c information for our members with Diabetes. We think that this project will require us to adapt our care management system and create an additional data field to record this information. We will also need to use this project to work with our partner ACO(s) to develop the link/feed to obtain the data from the ACO EHR and develop a process through which this information can be exchanged. We would also like to have reporting or flags in our care management system which will identify if a member has not received an A1c reading in more than 6 months, and a flag to notify a member’s care coordinator with the results of a recent A1c as that data is transmitted to our system.
The goals of our TA project are to:
- Ensure that our members with Diabetes have an A1c reading at least every 6 months, and notify a care coordinator when a member has not had a reading within that period
- Reduce the percent of our member population who have “poor Diabetes control,” an A1c of over 9%.
Please explain how the requested TA will enhance your ACO/CP capabilities within your identified Competency Area(s). Please also provide any other details that would help your TA Vendor help you achieve your TA project goals. (Max: 3 paragraphs):
The primary goal of this project is to enhance information exchange between ACOs/MCOs and CPs, which aligns with the goals in Competency Area #3.
We expect that the data exchange created by this project will address a gap in care management for complex members, by transmitting to the CP crucial medical information that the CP can use to help coordinate with the ACO or MCO to ensure that members have the tools and connection with the medical system that they need to improve their A1c control. This aligns with the goals in Competency Area #5.
If there is overlap between the requested TA and the work supported by DSRIP Participation Plan funds, please explain how the requested TA is not duplicative of other DSRIP-supported efforts. If there is no overlap, please write “not applicable.” (Max: 3 paragraphs):
DSRIP funds supported the development of our care management system for the purpose of tracking and reporting CP supports. This TA project leverages our previous investments and builds additional capabilities.
For ACOs: Please describe how the proposed TA project will address the management priorities that you have discussed with your ACO Contract Manager. If your proposed TA project does not address a MassHealth ACO management priority, please provide a brief rationale. (Max: 2 paragraphs)
For CPs: Please describe how the proposed TA project will advance the goals outlined in your DSRIP Participation Plan. If your proposed TA project does not align with your DSRIP Participation Plan goals, please provide a brief rationale. (Max: 2 paragraphs)
This TA project lays the groundwork for our ability to develop a quality initiative program focusing on process and outcome measures for our members with Diabetes. The development of a quality initiative program is one of the requirements in our Participation Plan.
Please identify the TA Vendor(s) that you would like to engage. MassHealth and Abt (the Managing Vendor) will match you with a TA Vendor based on your identified TA Vendor preference, TA vendor capacity, and TA needs. MassHealth will honor an ACO’s first priority vendor selection to the greatest extent possible.
- TA Vendor #1
- TA Vendor #2 X
- TA Vendor #3
- TA Vendor #4
- TA Vendor #5…
- No preference
From which TA Domain did you select your TA Vendor(s)?
- Actuarial and Financial
- Care Coordination/Integration
- Community-Based Care and Social Determinants of Health
- Consumer Engagement
- Flexible Services
- Health Information Technology/Health Information Exchange (HIT/HIE) X
- Performance Improvement
- Population Health Management
- Workforce
- I did not select a TA Vendor based on a TA Domain
Please explain your TA Vendor preference (e.g., existing relationship with this vendor, aware of their subject matter expertise, etc). If you do not have a TA Vendor preference, please write “not applicable.”
[TA Vendor] has an established reputation and other contractors have noted their strength in assisting behavioral health and social services organizations leverage member data. We have also had a brief phone conversation with [TA Vendor] regarding the proposed TA project, and they have identified action steps that we believe meet the broad outlines of the work plan we envisioned.
Is your first TA Year project the initial phase of a multi-year project that you will continue in subsequent TA Program years?
- Yes X
- No
- Unknown
Please identify the anticipated start and end date of the first TA Year project, as well as the related estimated cost. If this is the first phase of a multi-year project, please provide this information only for the first TA Year.
- Start Date: September 2018
- End Date: July 2019
- Estimated cost [if you don’t know the estimated cost, please put N/A]: N/A
ACOs and CPs will receive an allocation of TA funding (i.e. a new TA Card) in each of the five years of the 1115 waiver. Please briefly describe 3-4 potential TA projects that your ACO or CP might wish to undertake using your TA allocation in future years. This information is for MassHealth planning purposes only and will help us ensure that we engage a complement of TA Vendors with the capacity to meet anticipated ACO and CP TA priorities. It will also give us a better sense of ACOs’ and CPs’ overall planning related to their use of TA funds.
Please note that TA funding allocation amounts will vary from year to year for individual ACOs and CPs.
In year 2 we would like to engage a TA vendor to help us extend the application of the interoperability developed in this project to collect data on our members with hypertension by collecting blood pressure reading results to ensure members have their blood pressure taken regularly, and to monitor our members with hypertension.
We hope to use additional TA support in years 3 and 4 to identify and analyze the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to value-based payments. We hope to develop models for financial forecasting and identifying measurable success metrics identification in advance of taking on financial risk.