Manatt Health’s Alixandra Gould, Stephanie Anthony, Edo Banach, Jonah Frohlich and Anna Lansky wrote an article with the Massachusetts Disability Policy Consortium’s Dennis Heaphy for Health Affairs on how states can leverage integrated Medicare and Medicaid care models to address the needs of dually eligible populations with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). 

Historically, many states have designed their integrated care models for dually eligible people to reflect a one-size-fits-all solution, which generally do not consider the challenges and needs of people with I/DD. The authors explained, “The goal for states is not to design I/DD-specific integrated care models, but to design integrated care models in an inclusive way that explicitly considers and addresses the physical health, behavioral health, LTSS, and social needs of people with I/DD and optimizes their care experiences and outcomes.” 

The authors offered four strategies that states should incorporate into their integrated care models to improve care to dually eligible populations with I/DD: 

1. Partner with the I/DD Community to Design and Evaluate Integrated Care Models 
2. Identify, Acknowledge, and Address Access Barriers That Are Specific to People with I/DD 
3. Align Incentives and Hold Payers and Providers Accountable 
4. Improve and Formalize Collaboration Between State Medicaid and I/DD Agencies 

Read the full Health Affairs article here.