Feedback Sought on Draft Proposal to Integrate Behavioral Health Benefits into Managed Care
The State Department of Health, Office of Mental Health and Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services have issued a Request for Information regarding “New York’s Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Behavioral Health Benefit Administration: Managed Care Organizations and Health and Recovery Plans.” The Request for Information (RFI) is designed to solicit input concerning New York’s draft proposal to manage Medicaid substance use and mental health benefits. The draft proposal (or "Request for Qualifications for Behavioral Health Benefit Administration") sets forth qualifications that must be met by mainstream managed care plans to administer all Medicaid State Plan services for persons with mental illness or substance use disorders. It also sets forth qualifications for plans seeking to become specialized Health and Recovery Plans (HARPs), which will offer an enhanced benefit package for adults with serious mental illness or substance use disorders, including extensive "1915i-like" home and community-based services that comply with CMS home and community-based service standards.
The RFI has three parts:
- NYS Behavioral Health Managed Care RFI questions
- Draft Behavioral Health Managed Care RFQ for Public Review
- Data Book for Mainstream Plans and Health and Recovery Plans (HARPS)
The Data Book provides historical cost and utilization data on behavioral health and non-behavioral health services under Medicaid managed care and fee-for-service Medicaid. Similar data will be used to set the HARP premiums and the behavioral health component of the mainstream plan premiums.
The documents are available here. Responses to the RFI must be submitted electronically to bho@omh.ny.gov by Jan. 10, 2014.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841