February 6, 2012

HFS Care Coordination RFP: Letters of Intent due Feb. 29, 2012

Summary: Hospitals are encouraged to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) to present a proposal for the  Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) Care Coordination Innovations project. IHA has prepared a Letter of Intent worksheet to assist you. You can access the entire request for proposals and additional information about the Care Coordination Innovations Project by clicking here on the HFS website.

The Role of the Hospital Community in Medicaid Reform
Under health care reform, Medicaid is expected to cover 25% of all Illinoisans. On January 23, HFS released its Request for Proposals (Solicitation) for the Care Coordination Innovations Project. I ask you to seriously evaluate this important provider opportunity and consider submitting a Letter of Intent (LOI) by the February 29 deadline. If you submit an LOI, please inform us so that we can measure membership interest.

Legislation enacted last spring requires that 50% of Illinois' Medicaid population be enrolled in a risk-based care coordination program by January 1, 2015. The solicitation includes a statement of the Department's intentions with respect to fulfilling this mandate:

"The Department invites innovative Proposals to demonstrate that Providers can provide equal or better care coordination services, produce equal or better health outcomes and render equal or better savings than traditional HMOs. In the absence of such successful models, the Department will fulfill the statutory mandate through traditional HMOs."

This solicitation is an exceptional opportunity for hospitals, in conjunction with other health care providers, to shape the future care delivery system for this significant segment of Illinois residents . In addition, submitting an LOI will allow providers to:

• Preserve Options. Submitting an LOI does not commit the hospital to submitting a proposal by May 25, but it keeps the hospital's options open;
• Acquire Data-based Insights. Every hospital that submits an LOI and requests Medicaid data will be given a valuable insight into the health needs and utilization patterns of the Medicaid population it serves;
• Obtain Technical Assistance. The State will be offering technical support to LOI submitters, including readiness assessment, which may be of significant value in terms of care coordination insight; and
• Support Medicaid Reform. By submitting LOIs, the hospital community sends the state a strong message that we intend to be good partners in solving our Medicaid challenges.

HFS does not expect the LOI to include exhaustive details, but rather provide high-level responses that indicate interested entities and to help them understand the range of issues that must be addressed in their proposals.

The Illinois Hospital Association plans to provide education on best practices and lessons learned from early adopters of delivery and payment innovations, as along with tools for managing the transition from a volume-based program to a system based on value. We also wish to know how else IHA may assist you (e.g., Medicaid data analysis, "back office" support) in achieving your reform goals.

The first such tool - a worksheet for completing your Letter of Intent to the Department - is available by clicking here.

I urge you to review the LOI worksheet and seriously consider whether you can play a role, large or small, as part of a Care Coordination Entity (CCE) or Managed Care Community Network (MCCN) and consider submitting a Letter of Intent by February 29. If you have questions about the Letter of Intent worksheet, or wish to inform us that you have submitted an LOI, please contact Ted Nodzenski at 630.276.5472 or Barb Haller at 630.276.5474.