Medicare
Advantage Special Needs Plans:
A Beneficiary Perspective
A working
conference convened by the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc., and
supported by The Commonwealth Fund, an independent foundation
working toward health policy reform and a high performance health
system.
October 18, 2007
________________________________
Conference
Agenda
8:00 a.m. Registration
and Continental Breakfast
8:45 a.m. Welcome
Judith A. Stein,
Executive Director, Center for Medicare Advocacy
Stuart Guterman,
Senior Program Director, Program on Medicare’s
Future, The Commonwealth Fund
Session I
Introductions
Moderator: Judith A.
Stein
8:50 a.m. Participant
Introductions and Sharing of Experiences with Special
Needs Plans
Session II
What Makes SNPs Special
for Beneficiaries?
Moderator: Patricia
Nemore,
Senior Policy Attorney, Center for Medicare Advocacy
10:00 a.m. "Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans: Overview of Law and
Regulations"
Vicki Gottlich,
Senior Policy Attorney, Center for Medicare
Advocacy
10:10 a.m. Participant Discussion
10:45 a.m.
Break
Session III
How Does the SNP-State
Connection Help Beneficiaries?
Moderator: Pamela Meliso,
Senior Attorney, Center for Medicare Advocacy
11:00 a.m. "Connecting
SNPs with State Medicaid Programs"
Charles Milligan,
Executive Director, Center for Health Program Development and
Management, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
11:10 a.m.
Participant Discussion
-
What additional services
should Medicare SNPs provide that are not covered by state Medicaid
programs?
-
How can SNPs add value
for persons receiving services under Medicaid home and
community-based waivers or in institutions?
-
How can SNPs improve
beneficiaries’ access to primary care and improve access to other
providers, including specialists?
-
What is it about SNPs
that makes their existence “an unprecedented opportunity” for better
coordination between Medicare and Medicaid?
Session IV
Working Lunch
Moderator: Alfred J.
Chiplin, Jr.,
Senior Policy and Managing
Attorney, Center for Medicare Advocacy
12:30 p.m.
Gather Food / Break
12:50 p.m. "Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans:
Overview of Issues by
Type of Plan"
James M. Verdier, Senior Fellow, Mathematica Policy
Research, Inc.
1:00 p.m. Participant Discussion
1:30 p.m.
Break
Session V
The Beneficiary
Experience
Moderator: Brad Plebani,
Deputy Director, Center for Medicare Advocacy
1:45 p.m.
"The Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plan
Experience:
Beneficiary
Perspective from Pennsylvania"
Alissa E. Halperin,
Managing Attorney, Pennsylvania Health Law
Project
1:55 p.m. Participant Discussion
-
What statutory changes
are necessary to ensure that SNPs are a viable choice for
beneficiaries?
-
What should SNPs be
required to demonstrate to be approved by CMS and what are essential
contract provisions?
-
What are the minimal and
optimal elements of SNP coordination with Medicaid?
-
What data, such as
encounter data, are needed to understand beneficiary experiences
with SNPs?
3:15 p.m.
Break
Session VI
Areas of Agreement
Moderator: Nancy Coleman,
Independent Consultant
3:30 p.m. Gathering Consensus Recommendations and Formulating the
Challenges Ahead
4:45 p.m. Concluding Remarks
Judith A. Stein and
Stuart Guterman
