Accountability and Integration

Let’s keep looking at ways the health industry – insurers and providers of all health services – can help reduce the cost of health care to our state as a whole while improving services. You may want to go back to my earlier posts and review the issues I’m concerned about, and my ideas that first focused on what the health insurers we represent (and others) can do.

The next big idea is one that’s been around for a while, and needs to move forward expeditiously: Implement a single point of accountability within Medicaid, one point that will be responsible for treating the needs of the whole person.

MAHP members are ready to provide this vital services. We are ready toimplement total integration of the Medicaid Benefit including behavioral health – mental health services, drug addiction programs and the like – as well as the physical health services we manage today.

We can do this by phasing in efforts, enhancing the benefit program, developing explicit safeguards for access and enacting effective incentive programs.

We must should the person-centered efforts, health homes and services by non-traditional providers while enhancing the benefit and providing explicit safeguards for access.  We are seeing other states move progressively in this direction and Michigan needs to take similar action. This would also require meaningful integration of the MDHHS administration that would be part of the oversight for this new contract responsibility.