In January 2023, California turned the primary state within the nation to be accredited to supply a set of pre-release healthcare providers and enhance entry to take care of individuals returning house from jails and prisons. Many different states are actually growing Medicaid re-entry waiver proposals following steering from the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies. 

With approval from CMS, Washington state will provide some Medicaid protection to youth and adults in correctional amenities as much as 90 days earlier than they’re launched, beginning July 1, 2025.

Six states—Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Utah, and West Virginia—have pending Medicaid re-entry demonstration waivers. A number of different states, together with Arizona, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Vermont, are reported to be growing waiver proposals.

Throughout a Nov. 14 occasion hosted by KFF, Jennifer Strohecker, Pharm.D., the Medicaid director in Utah, spoke in regards to the efforts in her state. “Like many different states, Utah could be very invested in justice-involved re-entry initiatives. As we have now had additional steering from CMS, we’re actually excited in regards to the alternatives this permits for enhancements in that connection of care and continuity of care via pre-release providers,” she mentioned. 

“With the speed of psychological sickness in Utah jails being six occasions greater than most of the people, substantial gaps in care is what we’re noticing. Incarcerated people who might have a substance use dysfunction, who’ve untreated psychological sickness are transferring via the system and having gaps,” Strohecker added. “They’re not receiving that stage of care we would like. We’re working with our prisons and our jails to actually get up the infrastructure for this in anticipation that these conversations with CMS will likely be transferring in direction of approval of this important service quickly. That is definitely a high-priority merchandise for us.”

In June 2022 Jami Snyder, who then oversaw Arizona’s Medicaid and CHIP program, mentioned “We would like to have the ability to reimburse for providers when a person is getting ready to go away a correctional setting. We would like to have the ability to reimburse for these care coordination and case administration providers, so we will get people linked to care shortly after they depart that correctional atmosphere via quite a lot of suppliers, together with our justice clinic websites.”


The farthest alongside on this path is California, which has taken a number of steps in establishing its Justice-Concerned initiative. 

The state is taking steps to deal with poor well being outcomes on this inhabitants by establishing pre-release Medi-Cal enrollment methods to make sure people have continuity of protection upon their launch, in addition to entry to key providers to assist them efficiently return to their communities.

The Justice-Concerned Initiative permits eligible Californians who’re incarcerated to enroll in Medi-Cal and obtain a focused set of providers within the 90 days earlier than their launch. This initiative goals to make sure continuity of healthcare protection and providers between the time they’re incarcerated and when they’re launched. It additionally gives people who find themselves re-entering the group with the prescribed medicines and sturdy medical gear they want, and entry to applications and providers to help this transition.

A number of initiatives that focus efforts on guaranteeing Medi-Cal enrollment and advantages upon launch from correctional amenities embrace the next:

• Since 2015, state prisons have been required to make use of a standardized course of for gathering and processing pre-release purposes to make sure that JI people are enrolled in Medi-Cal earlier than their return to the group.

• From 2016 to 2021, 17 counties supplied whole-person care (WPC) pilots devoted to serving people reentering the group post-incarceration and have designed applications to straight have interaction native jails and/or probation departments. These applications have transitioned to develop into Enhanced Care Administration (ECM)/Neighborhood Helps applications in CalAIM.

• Since January 1, 2023, all counties are mandated to implement pre-release Medi- Cal software processes in county jails and youth correctional amenities.

• Since January 1, 2023, and as approved by SB 184, Medi-Cal advantages for juveniles and adults could also be stored in suspended standing till the person is now not an inmate of a public establishment.

• A 2021 state legislation (AB 133) requires correctional providers to implement a course of to facilitate referrals to county specialty psychological well being providers (SMHS), Drug Medi-Cal (DMC), the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Supply System (DMC-ODS), and/or Medi-Cal MCPs for incarcerated people who obtained behavioral well being providers whereas incarcerated, to permit for the continuation of behavioral well being remedy. These referrals are referred to as behavioral well being linkages.

• Managed care plans are required to supply intensive, community-based care administration for people transitioning to the group via the statewide ECM and Neighborhood Helps profit. All people who’re eligible for pre-release Medi-Cal providers and enrolled in managed care will even be eligible to obtain ECM upon launch to the group.

CMS is requiring state Medicaid applications to evaluate whether or not these interventions are having constructive impacts on well being outcomes and prices. 

As an illustration, in its letter approving Washington state’s waiver, CMS mentioned that “by permitting early interventions to happen within the full 90-day interval instantly previous to anticipated launch, akin to for sure behavioral well being circumstances and together with stabilizing medicines like long-acting injectable anti-psychotics and medicines for dependancy remedy for SUDs, Washington expects that will probably be capable of scale back decompensation, suicide-related deaths, overdoses, and overdose-related deaths within the near-term post-release. The state will check, and comprehensively consider via strong hypotheses testing, the effectiveness of the prolonged full 90-day protection interval earlier than the beneficiary’s anticipated date of launch on reaching these articulated objectives of the initiative.”