Bill Text: IL HB4959 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Creates the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Act. Requires the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to establish a Medicaid Technical Assistance Center (Center). Provides that the Center shall operate as a cross-system educational resource to strengthen the business infrastructure of health care provider organizations in Illinois to ultimately increase the capacity, access, and quality of Illinois' Medicaid managed care program, HealthChoice Illinois. Requires the Center to be established within the Department's Office of Medicaid Innovation. Requires the Center to collaborate with public and private partners throughout the State to identify, establish, and maintain best practices necessary for health providers to ensure their capacity to participate in HealthChoice Illinois. Requires the Center to: (i) create and administer ongoing trainings for health care providers; (ii) maintain an independent, easy to navigate, and up-to-date website that includes, but is not limited to, recorded training archives, a training calendar, and provider resources and tools; and (iii) host regional learning collaboratives that will supplement the Center's training curriculum to bring together groups of stakeholders to share issues, best practices, and escalate issues. Provides that the Department, to the extent allowable under federal law, shall maximize federal financial participation for any moneys appropriated to the Department for the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center. Provides that any federal financial participation funds obtained shall be used for the further development and expansion of the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center. Amends the State Finance Act. Creates the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Fund. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-06-23 - Rule 19(b) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB4959 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-HB4959-Introduced.html

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101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2019 and 2020 HB4959 Introduced , by Rep. Lamont J. Robinson, Jr. SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
30 ILCS 105/5.930 new
Creates the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Act. Requires the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to establish a Medicaid Technical Assistance Center (Center). Provides that the Center shall operate as a cross-system educational resource to strengthen the business infrastructure of health care provider organizations in Illinois to ultimately increase the capacity, access, and quality of Illinois' Medicaid managed care program, HealthChoice Illinois. Requires the Center to be established within the Department's Office of Medicaid Innovation. Requires the Center to collaborate with public and private partners throughout the State to identify, establish, and maintain best practices necessary for health providers to ensure their capacity to participate in HealthChoice Illinois. Requires the Center to: (i) create and administer ongoing trainings for health care providers; (ii) maintain an independent, easy to navigate, and up-to-date website that includes, but is not limited to, recorded training archives, a training calendar, and provider resources and tools; and (iii) host regional learning collaboratives that will supplement the Center's training curriculum to bring together groups of stakeholders to share issues, best practices, and escalate issues. Provides that the Department, to the extent allowable under federal law, shall maximize federal financial participation for any moneys appropriated to the Department for the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center. Provides that any federal financial participation funds obtained shall be used for the further development and expansion of the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center. Amends the State Finance Act. Creates the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Fund. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning public aid.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Medicaid Technical Assistance Act.
Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
"Behavioral health providers" means mental health and
substance use disorder providers.
"Department" means the Department of Healthcare and Family
Services.
"Health care providers" means organizations who provide
physical, mental, substance use disorder, or social
determinant of health services.
"Network adequacy" means a Medicaid beneficiaries' ability
to access all necessary provider types within time and distance
standards as defined in the Managed Care Organization model
contract.
"Service deserts" means geographic areas of the State with
no or limited Medicaid providers that accept Medicaid.
"Social determinants of health" means any conditions that
impact an individual's health, including, but not limited to,
access to healthy food, safety, education, and housing
stability.

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"Stakeholders" means, but are not limited to, health care
providers, advocacy organizations, managed care organizations,
Medicaid beneficiaries, and State and city partners.
Section 10. Medicaid Technical Assistance Center. The
Department of Healthcare and Family Services shall establish a
Medicaid Technical Assistance Center. The Medicaid Technical
Assistance Center shall operate as a cross-system educational
resource to strengthen the business infrastructure of health
care provider organizations in Illinois to ultimately increase
the capacity, access, and quality of Illinois' Medicaid managed
care program, HealthChoice Illinois. The Medicaid Technical
Assistance Center shall be established within the Department's
Office of Medicaid Innovation.
Section 15. Collaboration. The Medicaid Technical
Assistance Center shall collaborate with public and private
partners throughout the State to identify, establish, and
maintain best practices necessary for health providers to
ensure their capacity to participate in HealthChoice Illinois.
The Medicaid Technical Assistance Center shall administer the
following:
(1) Trainings: The Medicaid Technical Assistance
Center shall create and administer ongoing trainings for
health care providers. Trainings may be subcontracted. The
Medicaid Technical Assistance Center shall provide

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in-person and web-based trainings. In-person training
shall be conducted throughout the State. All trainings must
be free of charge. The Medicaid Technical Assistance Center
shall administer post-training surveys and incorporate
feedback. Training content and delivery must be reflective
of Illinois providers' varying levels of readiness,
resources, and client populations.
(2) Web-based resources: The Medicaid Technical
Assistance Center shall maintain an independent, easy to
navigate, and up-to-date website that includes, but is not
limited to: recorded training archives, a training
calendar, provider resources and tools, up-to-date
explanations of Department and managed care organization
guidance, a running database of frequently asked questions
and contact information for key staff members of the
Department, managed care organizations, and the Medicaid
Technical Assistance Center.
(3) Learning collaboratives: The Medicaid Technical
Assistance Center shall host regional learning
collaboratives that will supplement the Medicaid Technical
Assistance Center training curriculum to bring together
groups of stakeholders to share issues, best practices, and
escalate issues. Leadership of the Department and managed
care organizations shall attend learning collaboratives on
a quarterly basis.
(4) Network adequacy reports: The Medicaid Technical

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Assistance Center shall publicly release a report on
Medicaid provider network adequacy within the first 3 years
of implementation and annually thereafter. The reports
shall identify provider service deserts and health care
disparities by race and ethnicity.
Section 20. Federal financial participation. The
Department of Healthcare and Family Services, to the extent
allowable under federal law, shall maximize federal financial
participation for any moneys appropriated to the Department for
the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center. Any federal
financial participation funds obtained in accordance with this
Section shall be used for the further development and expansion
of the Medicaid Technical Assistance Center. All federal
financial participation funds obtained under this subsection
shall be deposited into the Medicaid Technical Assistance
Center Fund created under Section 25.
Section 25. Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Fund. The
Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Fund is created as a
special fund in the State treasury. The Fund shall consist of
any moneys appropriated to the Department of Healthcare and
Family Services for the purposes of this Act and any federal
financial participation funds obtained as provided under
Section 20. Moneys in the Fund shall be used for carrying out
the purposes of this Act and for no other purpose. All interest

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earned on the moneys in the Fund shall be deposited into the
Fund.
Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding
Section 5.930 as follows:
(30 ILCS 105/5.930 new)
Sec. 5.930. The Medicaid Technical Assistance Center Fund.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.