State approves Medicaid ACH transformation project plans

February 21, 2018

The Health Care Authority recently approved project plans for each of the nine Accountable Communities of Health, triggering the release of payments to the organizations. The HCA issued its approval after receiving findings from its independent assessor, Myers and Stauffer. WSHA continues to engage in discussions with ACH staff leaders on a continuing basis to stay informed as implementation progresses.

All nine ACHs are undertaking work on chronic disease prevention, with all nine focused on diabetes. Some are also focusing on respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, obesity and hypertension.

Among the findings and recommendations of the assessor are:

  • Collaboration and coordination:
    • The HCA should consider opportunities for ongoing dialogue about approaches to avoid duplication of existing initiatives already underway;
    • ACHs should consider opportunities for coordination so as to decrease provider administrative burden and fatigue;
    • ACHs should coordinate across practices since target populations and partner providers likely overlap; and
    • Best practices on provider engagement and provider training should be shared across ACHs.
  • Health Information Exchange:
    • ACHs described concerns that meeting timeframes of a successful HIE is uncertain.
  • Allocation of project funds:
    • There is significant variability in allocation of funds for project management and administration, ranging from 2-22 percent across the ACHs.
    • (Claudia Sanders)

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