URGENT
INFORMATIONAL NOTICE: This notice is to clarify the status of
the State of Illinois’ Primary Care Case Management (PCCM) Program, Illinois
Health Connect, in light of the recent and upcoming healthcare changes within
the Medicaid program.
Illinois
Health Connect (IHC) is not ending in October 2013.
IHC
will continue to operate as a statewide mandatory health plan choice for those
individuals that are not required to participate in an Integrated Care Plan
(ICP), Medicaid Medicare Alignment Initiative (MMAI), or a Care Coordination
Entity (CCE). As Illinois expands its care coordination programs, the
counties where IHC operates may change. If such a change does occur,
Healthcare and Family Services will release an official notice to
providers. The IHC Helpline continues to be a valuable resource to
Recipients and Providers. It is available Monday through Friday
8:00am-7:00pm by calling 1-877-912-1999 (TTY: 1-866-565-8577. Important
program information and resources are also available on the IHC website: www.illinoishealthconnect.com .
For
more information on Care Coordination Expansion, please refer to the May 15,
2013 HFS Provider Notice: http://hfs.illinois.gov/assets/051513n.pdf
For
more information on CCE implementation geographic rollout, please visit the HFS
Care Coordination webpage: http://www2.illinois.gov/hfs/PublicInvolvement/cc/Pages/default.aspx
2013 EHR Incentive
Attestation Launch
The
revised implementation date for accepting
2013 EHR Incentive attestations for eligible professionals and hospitals with
the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services will be November 18,
2013. Additional notices will be sent and the
department’s EHR website will be updated with 2013 program materials very
soon.
EHR
Provider Incentive Payment program questions and concerns can be submitted by
email to hfs.ehrincentive@illinois.gov
or by contacting one of the Regional Extension Centers listed below.
The
Regional Extension Centers are designed to help providers receive subsidized or
free services to achieve Meaningful Use of electronic health records (EHRs).
Illinois Health Information Technology
Extension Center Collaborative Web site (Statewide
Consortium)
Chicago
Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center Web site (Chicago
Consortium)
About Healthy Beginnings
for Babies:
Regular well-baby check-ups during the first year of life are important to a
child’s growth and long-term health. Yet, too many babies in the U.S . do not
receive all the check-ups and appropriate vaccinations. In response to this
important public health issue, the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies
Coalition, in partnership with Merck, and the National Medical Association, has
created Healthy Beginnings for Babies. Healthy Beginnings for Babies,
launching as a pilot program with community partners in Illinois, Florida and
Pennsylvania, aims to increase well-baby pediatric visits and vaccinations
during the first year of life. To help mothers prepare for their
well-baby visits, families will receive a resource guide that contains some
information on what to expect at each visit and suggestions for questions to ask
their health prof essional. It is the hope that Healthy Beginnings for Babies
will spark efforts to help children get a healthy start in life.
The EverThrive Illinois provides free Healthy Beginnings for Babies guides and
posters. For more information, call Sheila Sanders at 773-651-0520
or
e-mail us at ssanders@ilmaternal.org.
You may also visit our website at www.ilmaternal.org.
Illinois Health Connect PCCM 2013 Provider
Satisfaction Survey
Survey Methodology
The survey instrument was mailed to every medical home in the IHC
program. Respondents had the choice to
remain anonymous or to provide their IHC number so that they would not receive
further requests to complete the survey.
The mailing also contained a link to the online survey at Survey
Monkey. A notice about the survey with a
link to the Survey Monkey website was posted on the IHC website, placed on the
cover page of the provider panel roster for 2 months and distributed to all of
the primary care professional societies so that they could subsequently
distribute to members. Additionally,
the IHC Provider Service Representatives distributed surveys via face-to-face
visits at provider offices and the IHC Helpdesk Staff requested providers to
complete the survey during any inbound and outbound calls. Respondents who provided their IHC numbers
were removed from the contact list and 3 subsequent blast faxes and emails were
sent to all medical homes. A total of
1,436 completed surveys were returned over a thirteen week data collection
period. This represents a response rate of 26.82% from a total of 5,719 medical
homes. Of these, 1,264 were faxed, 146
responded via the web link through Survey Monkey and 26 were mailed. The remaining surveys were either incomplete
or duplicates, and were not entered.
Survey Instrument
Illinois Health Connect Provider Survey questions were initially
developed based on previous provider satisfaction surveys conducted by
Automated Health Systems. The survey
questions were shared with the HFS PCCM/DM Steering Committee, the Quality
Management Subcommittee, and the Provider Network Subcommittee, the Illinois
Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians and the Illinois Academy of
Family Physicians. Based on survey
feedback from 2009 and new developments to the IHC program, questions were
added to the 2010 PCP survey to evaluate PCP perceptions of the implementation
of Phase I of the IHC Referral System and to assess the quality aspects of the
IHC program such as access to the Provider Portal. Each year, the survey instrument is updated
to assess new program components and refined based on feedback. The additions and modifications to the survey
are carefully balanced with the goal of maintaining the consistency of the survey
from year-to-year so trends can be analyzed.
Responses to the questions were posed as a 4-point Likert
scale of Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. No “neutral” response was included, as would
be in the five-point Likert scale, to reduce social desirability bias and force
respondents to render a positive or negative opinion. For appropriate questions, respondents were
given an option of “did not use”. Surveys
contained space for open-ended comments.
Survey Results
We appreciate all the
provider offices and staff who took time out to complete this year’s IHC
Provider survey.
We did group noteworthy
and recurrent free text comments that you provided for IHC to use to improve
our program. Your valuable feedback was
also provided to HFS, who will continue to work with IHC on improving our
program.
We received 1436
surveys and are pleased to report the following results:
97% Strongly Agree/Agree that IHC keeps me updated about
changes and requirements
95% Strongly Agree/Agree that IHC is beneficial to my
patients
95% of those offices that received assistance from the IHC
Quality Assurance Nurse found the education received was helpful in explaining
the quality components of IHC, such as how to achieve maximum bonus payments or
understanding the Profile Measures
92% are overall satisfied with the administration of
IHC
91% Strongly Agree/Agree that IHC’s implementation of the
Phase 1 referral system requiring patients be seen in their own medical home has
been a positive strength towards strengthening the medical home
89% Strongly Agree/Agree that IHC’s Enrollee Services Call
Center Staff respond satisfactorily to clients’ questions and needs
86% Strongly Agree/Agree that my assigned IHC Provider
Services Representatives who visited my office helped my staff and me to
understand the program better
84% Strongly Agree/Agree blast faxes and blast emails from
IHC keeps me informed of important updates
81% Strongly Agree/Agree that it is easy to reach my IHC Provider
Services Representative
79% Strongly Agree/Agree that IHC Provider Services Help
Desk Representatives available at 877-912-1999 satisfactorily answered my
program questions.
Please contact the Illinois Health Connect PCCM program with questions or comments you may have at 877.912.1999.
These hands-on workshops are designed to support anyone who will be directly involved in managing or
implementing campaigns
to
educate families and children on health insurance options
or facilitate enrollment into coverage. The workshops will provide practical strategies that agencies of any size, with any budget (or no budget), can utilize
to connect their communities to health coverage, including All Kids, Family
Care, and new coverage made available by
the Affordable Care Act (also know n as
federal health reform or Obamacare).
15 workshops are to be hosted statewide September through December. For more information go to:
http://www.ilmaternal.org/
Fall
General Meeting 9.10.13: Adult Immunizations, Flu, I-CARE, and ACA
Date: September
10, 2013
Time:
8:30am- 12:00pm (8:30am -9:00am breakfast and registration)
Location: University
of Illinois at Chicago- Student Center East, 750 South Halsted Street, Room
329- Cardinal Room, Chicago, IL 60607
Join the Chicago Area Immunization Campaign (CAIC) for the 2013 Fall General
Meeting. The meeting will focus on the importance of adult immunizations,
Vaccinate Illinois Week and influenza, I-CARE, and the Affordable Care Act.
Special guest speaker Marie
Brown, MD, FACP, Governor of the Illinois Northern Chapter of
the American College of Physicians, will speak on the importance of adult
immunizations and how to communicate with patients. Jeanine Solinski, MPP, PMP,
Manager of the Immunization Initiatives at the Illinois Chapter of the American
Academy of Pediatrics, will speak on Vaccinate Illinois Week and influenza
vaccination. Annie Boesen,
Manager of the Immunization Initiatives at the Illinois Chapter of the American
Academy of Pediatrics, will provide an update on I-CARE, Illinois' immunization
registry. Kathy Waligora,
MSW, Health Reform Outreach Coordinator at the Illinois Maternal
and Child Health Coalition will provide an update on the Affordable Care Act in
Illinois.
To register, click here. For more
information, contact Kelly McKenna at kmckenna@ilmaternal.org
or 312/491-8161 x35.
