Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2014 - (Page 38)

associationnews policy update What lies ahead As we celebrate the successes of 2013, we take a look at what's next on the policy front. W e saw great progress in our Medicaid reform efforts last year, and as we wrap up the first quarter of 2014, we carry forward strong momentum and ambitious goals. However, the reality of Capitol Hill is that no one gets everything he or she wants; policy transformation, especially Medicaid and its federalstate partnership, is more often a marathon than a sprint. But, thanks to the shared commitment of children's hospital senior leaders and their teams actively engaging members of Congress, 2013 built a foundation for our work to advance delivery reforms in Medicaid to improve care and reduce costs for children with medical complexity (CMC). In 2013, we:  Secured a marker in the bipartisan budget. Signed into law by the president, the budget agreement Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Patty Murray (D-WA) negotiated included a marker establishing a reserve fund to provide for consideration of CMC in Medicaid.  Presented our proposal to the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and eight other senators: Michael Bennet (D-CO), Patrick Toomey (R-PA), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Rob Portman (R-OH), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Bob Casey (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) cosponsored the proposed amendment, "Coordinated Care for Medically Complex Children." This demonstrates the legislative commitment to discuss ways to change Medicaid to drive better outcomes for children.  Completed several analytics and literature projects. The projects we distributed build a data-driven foundation for the need for Medicaid reform. We also developed a technical document for Hill champions to use with the Congressional Budget Office Executive Insight Report Series enhances datasets Merging the Association's Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) and Case Mix comparative databases enhanced the way information is delivered to participating hospitals. Leveraging user-friendly visual displays and integrated reporting, the Association developed the Executive Insight Report Series, released in December. The series includes a new framework for accessing PHIS and Case Mix data-the Executive Summary report. This report makes it easy to access other reports in the series and makes the data actionable for top-level executives. Questions? Email allan.castro@childrenshospitals.org. 38 children's hospital s today Spring 2014 summarizing existing published literature and new analytics supporting the cost savings of our proposal. To view the report, visit childrenshospitals.org/cmcreport. Working together, children's hospitals have made amazing progress, but more work remains to advance towards our goal of enacting legislation creating nationally designated children's hospital networks for CMC. Top priorities for 2014 include:  Strengthening bipartisan support from the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A March 13 House briefing, co-hosted by Reps. Joe Barton (R-TX) and Kathy Castor (D-FL), for members of Congress and staff focused on the children's hospitals' proposal to improve Medicaid for CMC. This was a vital step in educating legislators about this population and how our nation can serve them better. We're continuing work with Senate champions to achieve Congressional Budget Office scoring for our proposal, an essential step in solidifying and expanding support among lawmakers.  Initiating a national network practice collaborative based on medical home and at-risk payment models. Once Medicaid reform becomes a legislative reality, we need to make it practical for it to be meaningful. To do that, we need to understand how to help hospitals efficiently implement medical home and population management models of care. A major step in this process is the Association's National Pediatric Network Collaborative, which held an initial meeting April 14-15, designed to help hospitals think about how they would implement a medical home with a fundamental change in payment policy.  Raising the visibility of CMC and growing our national network in support of our proposal. Visit speaknowforkids.org, sign up as a champion for children's health, share your story, and encourage family, friends, colleagues and social networks to join you. Telling your story to friends, community leaders and state and local officials helps the broader community understand the issue. Not only are children's hospitals working in this complex area, they're working to advance solutions to improve care for children while reducing cost. It's a solution everyone can get behind. Our continued success requires boldness, perseverance and the combined efforts of the children's hospital community. Acting together, we have the opportunity to shift the course of history and impact the health and lives of millions of children and their families. -Jim Kaufman, Ph.D. childrenshospital s.org http://www.childrenshospitals.org/cmcreport http://www.speaknowforkids.org http://www.childrenshospitals.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2014

Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2014
Contents
Editor's Note
President's Message
Reader Commentary
Everyday Heo
Transforming Care
Measuring Up
Data Breach: 10 Ways to Prepare and Respond
A Fresh Take
Balancing the Business of Care
Better Together
Public Policy Update
Board Member Q&A
Child's Story

Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2014