Insights

HMA Insights: Your source for healthcare news, ideas and analysis.

HMA Insights – including our new podcast – puts the vast depth of HMA’s expertise at your fingertips, helping you stay informed about the latest healthcare trends and topics. Below, you can easily search based on your topic of interest to find useful information from our podcast, blogs, webinars, case studies, reports and more.

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Webinar

Webinar Replay: Legislative Reconciliation in a New Era – Understanding Its Role and Impact in the 119th Congress

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This webinar was held on January 15, 2025.

As the Trump Administration takes office and a new Congress is convened, the legislative tool of budget reconciliation could play a pivotal role in shaping the nation’s policy landscape. In this webinar, Liz Wroe, Sara Singleton, and Laura Pence discussed the potential health policy priorities of the new Administration, the implications of reconciliation for healthcare stakeholders, and the challenges and opportunities presented while navigating this expedited process.  

Webinar

Improving Maternal Health Outcomes: Navigating CMS Guidance for Better Care

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Maternal health is at a critical turning point, and healthcare professionals are seeking innovative solutions to improve outcomes, reduce disparities, and ensure equitable access to care. This webinar highlights the latest CMS policies and guidance designed to address maternal mortality, expand access to high-quality care, and advance health equity for diverse populations. This session is ideal for hospital and critical access administrators, healthcare professionals, and policymakers dedicated to advancing maternal health and achieving better outcomes.

Learning Objectives:

  • Gain a clear understanding of the latest CMS regulations, policies, and quality measures related to maternal health outcomes.
  • Discover actionable strategies and best practices for implementing CMS guidance to improve care delivery and patient outcomes.
  • Explore approaches to reduce disparities in maternal health, ensuring equitable care for underserved populations.
Webinar

Webinar Replay: 2024 Political Checkpoint

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This webinar was held on November 12, 2024.

In the 2024 Political Checkpoint hosted by Leavitt Partners, an HMA company, we explored up-to-the-minute insights on the election results, discussed both confirmed outcomes and remaining uncertainties, along with the mandate for change that has emerged. Our expert panelists provided an overview of what to expect from Congress and the Administration, focusing on key legislative priorities and executive actions, and shared their prediction for what to watch over the first 100 days:

2024 Wrap Up
Lame duck session in Congress, end of year regulatory action

A New President
Implementing campaign promises through appointments

2025 Policy Agendas
Where committees, agencies may set their sights

Key Issues
Healthcare priorities that could see the spotlight

Webinar

Webinar Replay: How Community Care Hubs Can Enhance Family Caregiver Support Services

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This webinar was held on December 3, 2024.

To better support family caregivers and the older adults who they care for, Area Agencies on Aging and other aging network agencies are creating Community Care Hubs (CCH) to address social determinants of health, integrate health and social care, and reduce care costs. In this webinar with LTSS policy experts and providers, we described the implementation of the CCH model in projects in Massachusetts and New York.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the Community Care Hub (CCH) model for integrating health and social care
  • Identify key CCH features to enhance family caregiver support services
  • Illustrate the implementation of the CCH model for supporting family caregivers with projects in Massachusetts and New York

Featured Speakers:

  • Kristie Kulinski, MSW, Director of Office for Network Advancement, Administration for Community Living
  • Nikki Kmicinski, MS, RD, CDH, Chief Executive Officer, Western New York Integrated Care Collaborative
  • Jennifer Raymond, JD, MBA, Chief Strategy Officer, AgeSpan
Webinar

Webinar Replay: Electoral Consequences: Impact on the ACA Marketplace

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This webinar was held on November 20, 2024.

The 2024 elections could create dramatic changes in the ACA marketplace. Enhanced ACA subsidies passed during the pandemic are set to expire in 2025, and a new CMS administrator will shape policy and regulatory components that affect marketplace and consumer dynamics. This webinar is designed for health plans currently participating in the ACA marketplaces, plans who are considering attending, as well as state regulators and marketplace leaders who need to understand changes that might be coming their way. The webinar covered not only what is expected to change (2026 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters, AVC) but also what could possibly change that will affect 2025 Marketplaces and beyond.

Webinar

Webinar Replay: The Future of Medicare Advantage: How the Election Results Impact the Program

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This webinar was held on November 19, 2024.

More than 50 percent of Medicare enrollees chose Medicare Advantage (MA) as their preferred coverage option. This growth brought increased scrutiny, with elected officials, regulators, think tanks, and news organizations raising questions about the program’s current makeup. With MA reform potentially on the table in 2025, attendees explored how the election results could impact policy changes in the coming year.

Learning objectives:

  1. Understand the political landscape for the Medicare Advantage program post-election
  2. Identify likely Medicare Advantage reforms
  3. Assess organizational strategies in response to Medicare Advantage reforms
Webinar

Webinar Replay: Mastering Star Performance: Strategies from the HMA Stars Accelerator Program

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This webinar was held on November 13, 2024.

In this webinar, attendees learned the essential methods and practices to enhance Star ratings through the HMA Stars Accelerator program. The session explored how to leverage data analytics to effectively track current star performance and identify areas for improvement. Additionally, it covered stratification techniques that allow for targeted focus on key measure opportunities throughout the year to ensure optimal results.

Learning objectives:

  • Learn how to implement proven strategies and best practices
  • Understand how to leverage data analytics to monitor and assess trends
  • Provide focus areas to measure opportunities and enhance performance
LEARN MORE ABOUT HMA’S STAR ACCELERATOR PLAYBOOK
Webinar

Webinar Replay: The Housing Imperative for Persons with Disabilities to Advance Independent Living and Recovery

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This webinar was held on October 31, 2024.

This webinar discussed the importance of expanding affordable and accessible housing for persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities face enormous challenges in finding affordable and accessible housing for two main reasons. First, they struggle to afford housing. Second, it’s not easy to find accessible housing. Join us as experts share their key insights into the state of affordable and accessible housing for persons with disabilities and contributions to expanding the housing supply. 

Learning objectives:

  • Understand the impacts of affordable and accessible housing for persons with disabilities through an equity lens. 
  • Examine the state of affordable and accessible housing for persons with disabilities.
  • Broaden your understanding of the impacts of race, income, disability, and geography on access to affordable and accessible housing.
  • Learn from experts about ways to expand housing for persons with disabilities.

Featured speakers:

Allie Cannington, Director of Advocacy, The Kelsey
R. Feynman, Director of Advocacy, Disability Policy Consortium, Boston, MA
Olivia Richard, Disability Rights Advocate, Boston, MA
Barry A. Whaley, MS, Project Director of the Southeast ADA Center, Syracuse, MA

Webinar

Webinar Replay: 2025 Medicare Advantage Bids Are Over. Now What?

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This webinar was held on September 5, 2024.

The Medicare Advantage (MA) market has had an eventful year, and the chaos is expected to continue. As plans begin their preparation for the upcoming 2026 Plan Year, what are the emerging trends in benefits, STARS, revenue optimization and the regulatory environment? Are you a Medicare Advantage health plan leader overwhelmed with all the changes in the industry? Check out this webinar for some helpful information.

Learning Objectives:

  • Review recent high-level challenges in the MA market.
  • Gain an understanding of several “hot topics” that MA plans should be thinking about as they begin planning for 2026.
  • Learn from HMA experts on recommended actions for each of these topics
Webinar

Webinar Replay: Integrating Behavioral Health into Whole-Person Care

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This webinar was held on August 21, 2024.

Whether you insource or outsource your behavioral health benefits, the integration of behavioral health and medical care continues to emerge as a critical strategy to improve health and reduce healthcare costs. This webinar is designed to help organizations begin to navigate this important shift in expectations and ultimately be a part of successful change in this area. By focusing on the value of a whole-person care approach to behavioral health, HMA experts described the different models for integrating behavioral health and provided a training framework to support the behavioral health aspects of whole-person care.

Learning Objectives:

  • Articulate the benefits of incorporating a strong Behavioral Health approach into Whole-Person Care Models
  • Learn the different models for integrating Behavioral Health care into Health Plan Functional Areas and Operations
  • Able to develop a training framework for all Health Plan staff to increase their competencies for addressing Behavioral Health conditions
Webinar

Webinar Replay: The New Administrative State: Implications of Recent Landmark Supreme Court Rulings for Federal Regulations, Agency Deference, and State Implementation

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This webinar was held on August 14, 2024.

While legal experts assess the recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, federal and state agency leaders face significant questions about how their agencies and their responsibilities will be impacted. This webinar featured insightful discussions with former federal and state agency leaders exploring the known and yet-to-be determined impacts of recent rulings on federal regulations, rulemaking and actions, and agency deference, and also explored the impact on state agencies implementing federal rules. The webinar addressed the impact of the pivotal Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and West Virginia v. EPA decisions. Together these decisions overturned the longstanding Chevron deference doctrine, are pushing Congress to craft more specific legislation, and are directing courts to interpret ambiguous statutes. The discussion also explored the most appropriate responses of agency leaders, anticipated the ways that these decisions impact federal and state agency decision-making, and identified areas of growing uncertainty.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand what we know about the impact of these decisions on agency rulemaking and decision making, consider the impact on federal agency discretion, and understand the shift in power towards Congress and judicial interpretation
  • Analyze the likely impact on agency rulemaking processes
  • Explore state governance issues, both as a partner to federal agencies and as an implementer of federal policy and funds
  • Identify the most important questions yet to be answered
Webinar

Webinar Replay: Rural Health Equity for Dually Eligible Individuals: Improving Access to Services and Integrated Care Programs

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This webinar was held on February 2, 2023. 

Dually eligible individuals covered under Medicare and Medicaid living in rural areas struggle to access the services, care coordination, and integrated care programs they need. To address these needs, HMA conducted multi-state roundtable discussions with diverse stakeholders to create The Health Equity & Access for Rural Dually Eligible Individuals (HEARD) Toolkit. During this webinar, our experts summarized and discussed the toolkit’s actionable solutions for improving health and social outcomes for rural dually eligible individuals.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand why the voices of rural dually eligible individuals must drive planning efforts to generate innovations and prioritize investments to advance independent living and recovery goals.
  • Learn how experiences shared from New Mexico, North Dakota, and Tennessee can offer lessons.
  • Explore eight actionable solutions for improving health and social outcomes among rural dually eligible individuals as outlined in the HEARD toolkit.
  • Understand why community engagement and investment in rural capacity are essential to improving access to services and integrated care programs for rural dually eligible individuals.

Speakers

Arielle Mir, Vice President, Health Care, Arnold Ventures

Expert Panelists

Dr. Kevin Bennett, Professor of Family Medicine, University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Director of the Research Center for Transforming Health, and Director of the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Care
Dennis Heaphy, Health Justice Advocate and Researcher, Massachusetts Disability Policy Consortium, Co-Chair, One Care Implementation Council, a One Care member, and MACPAC Commissioner
Pamela J. Parker, Medicare-Medicaid Integration Consultant, SNP Alliance
Tallie Tolen, Long-Term Services and Supports Bureau Chief, Medicaid, New Mexico Human Services Department