Webinar: Data Analytics to Better Understand Medicaid Populations with Serious Mental Illness
The CMS Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP) is launching a new data analytics technical support opportunity for state Medicaid agencies interested in using data to gain a better insight into their adult Medicaid populations with serious mental illness (SMI).
As state Medicaid agencies (SMAs) focus on delivery system reform, it has become clear that one of the populations with the highest costs and most complex needs are adults with SMI. Unfortunately, there is limited national and state specific data analyses related to the population with SMI which states can use for planning and decision-making. Through this collaborative learning opportunity, IAP will assist SMAs in executing state-specific analyses, using data analytic best practices to leverage Medicaid claims and encounters data, other state-level data, and potentially external data, to increase their understanding of their Medicaid population with SMI.
The selected SMI-DA cohort will be tailored to a group of ten selected SMAs who are able to demonstrate the executive support, staff capacity, and dedicated commitment in this learning collaborative. The goal will be to produce profiles of the individual state adult Medicaid beneficiaries with SMI which can serve as the basis for policy making, stakeholder engagement, and data-informed delivery system redesign.
For individuals living with complex, often chronic conditions, and their families, palliative care can provide relief from symptoms, improve satisfaction and outcomes, and help address critical mental and spiritual needs during difficult times. Now more than ever, there is growing recognition of the importance of palliative care services for individuals with serious illness, such as advance care planning, pain and symptom management, care coordination, and team-based, multi-disciplinary support. These services can help patients and families cope with the symptoms and stressors of disease, better anticipate and avoid crises, and reduce unnecessary and/or unwanted care. While this model is grounded in evidence that demonstrates improved quality of life, better outcomes, and reduced cost for patients, only a fraction of individuals who could benefit from palliative care receive it. 
