skip over navigation

Technical Documents and Purchase Specifications

Behavioral Health Policy

CHPR has produced numerous issue briefs and reports on topics related to legal and policy issues in the financing and delivery of behavioral health care (mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment) services.

Specific research topics include:

  • The implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act for persons with behavioral health disabilities
  • Analyses of significant judicial decisions such as Olmstead v. LC as they relate to behavioral health care
  • Contractual requirements for behavioral health care delivery in Medicaid, SCHIP, Medicare, and private sector insurance
  • Care coordination of physical and behavioral health care services
  • Behavioral health issues in child welfare, correctional institutions, and employee benefit plans

HIV/AIDS

The Center has conducted numerous studies related to HIV care access and financing. Specific research topics include:

  • Coordination of Medicaid and Ryan White CARE Act programs.
  • Expanding Medicaid eligibility for people with HIV.
  • Private insurance options for people with HIV.

Specific initiatives include:

  • Center for Integrated HIV Care Networks to develop networks of care providers that compete in a managed care environment.
  • Forum for Collaborative HIV Research. The Forum for Collaborative HIV Research is an independent public-private partnership whose mission is to facilitate discussion on emerging issues in HIV clinical and health services research and the transfer of research results into care.

Managed Care Contracting

Overview

The Center's initiatives in the area of managed care systems for low-income, publicly insured individuals play a central role in the evolution of Medicaid managed care. As a part of this work, the Center:

  • Conducts ongoing analytic studies of Medicaid managed care contracts and provider agreements, focusing on areas such as children's health, substance abuse treatment, and mental health services. These studies assess the evolving relationship between State Medicaid agencies and managed care plans and the potential impact on beneficiaries and safety-net providers.
  • Maintains the only database of state Medicaid agency, risk-based managed care general service agreements and carve-out contracts.
  • Develops sample managed care purchasing specifications in areas of special concern, such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, data reporting, and children enrolled in Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP).
  • Trains staff at State Medicaid, public health, and SCHIP agencies.

Along with the core support of the Packard Foundation, significant support for these projects comes from several agencies within the US Department of Health and Human Services, including the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Negotiating the New Health System, 4th Edition

Purchasing Specifications

Maternal and Child Health

A major portion of the Center's work on Medicaid managed care is related to maternal and child health population. The Center also conducts many analyses on the maternal and child health delivery system, including the implementation of SCHIP and EPSDT coverage policies. Center staff also provide technical assistance to state maternal and child health programs entering managed care arrangements. The Center also conducts research on:

  • Delivery of care through Medicaid, SCHIP, Title V, and other federal programs for children.
  • Child health and development policy issues at the federal and state levels.
  • Federal and state immunization policies.
  • Health insurance reform options for children.
  • Pediatric performance standards under state Medicaid programs.
  • Responsiveness of SCHIP to children with special health care needs through the Child Health Insurance Research Initiative (CHIRI).

Medicaid Contract Purchasing Specifications

Note: These specifications were written and released between 1998 and 2002. While the suggestions contained herein are still good practice, some of the supporting documentation supplied via hyperlinks to government sites may have changed since the original release.

People with Disabilities

The Center's disability related projects include research, dissemination and technical assistance on legal, health care and work-related issues for children and adults with or at-risk of a disability or chronic conditions, including mental illness, addiction disorder, lead poisoning, developmental delay or HIV Infection. Specific projects include:

  • Legal analysis of issues faced by managed behavioral health care organizations.
  • Research related to implementation of a 1999 Supreme Court decision (Olmstead v. L.C.), expected to lead to deinstitutionalization of thousands of people with disabilities.
  • Technical assistance on federal and state policies on work-incentives for people with disabilities.