The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a competitive grant solicitation on July 26 for Money Follows the Person (MFP) Rebalancing Grant funding under the federal health care reform law. The new law extends the earlier MFP demonstration program through 2016, authorizing an additional $2.25 billion in grant awards to State Medicaid agencies for 2012-2016 at 75-90 percent FFP. CMS awarded $1.5 billion to 29 States under the earlier demonstration program created in 2006 by the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), which helped move 6,000 persons from institutions into community-based programs. States already participating in MFP can expand the scope of their programs and the solicitation offers an opportunity for other states to begin to do so. CMS explains that the purpose of the grants is to transform long term care from institutionally-based, provider-driven services, to community-based, person-centered, consumer-directed care. CMS acknowledges the key role of fiscal agents (such as PPL) in achieving that transformation. States are expected to consider how they will use MFP grants in concert with other, new opportunities created by the federal health care reform law, such as the Community First Choice Option and the State option to provide health homes for individuals with chronic conditions. An applicant teleconference is scheduled for August 11, 2010. States must submit grant applications to CMS for the new MFP funding opportunity no later than January 7, 2011. CMS anticipates up to 20 grant awards by February 28, 2011.
About Tom Entrikin
A former policy specialist with the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration (now Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)), Tom Entrikin has vast experience providing technical assistance to states on Medicaid eligibility, coverage, and reimbursement; provider certification and enrollment; program integrity; recovery of third party liabilities; Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) performance specifications and operations; interagency agreements; contracts with managed care organizations; and Medicaid waiver programs. Since joining PCG in 1992, Tom has assisted in the design, development, and implementation of revenue projects for school-based health services; hospital-based and municipal projects for pregnant women, infants, and children; state services offered through youth services, child welfare, mental health, substance abuse, and public health agencies; and reimbursement systems for hospitals, long term care facilities, and community-based waiver programs. He has made presentations at national conferences on Medicaid waiver programs and participated in the development of a manual on self-determination under waiver programs for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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