Tag: Interviews

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Medicaid and Telehealth: Interview with Dr. Shannon Dowler

Guest bio

Dr. Shannon Dowler is a family doctor born, raised and trained in North Carolina. She has spent the past twenty years pursuing health access, equity and quality in Western North Carolina. In 2019 she became theChief Medical Officer for North Carolina Medicaid.

You can also learn more about Dr. Dowler’s work by visiting shannondowlermd.com

Highlights from this episode

  1. The amazing NC telehealth pandemic roll-out story, including rolling out a 3-year plan in 7 weeks to deploy 367 program flexibilities
  2. Take-aways from communicating rapid changes to providers using data
  3. Changes in barriers to telehealth over the last 2 years
  4. Impact of implementing managed-care simultaneous to the telehealth rollout
  5. Hybrid home health visits
  6. Challenges and opportunities using telehealth to move the dial on quality measure
  7. The danger of over-estimating the cost impact of expanded telehealth visits
  8. Advice to solution providers innovating in the Medicaid telehealth space

Further Exploration

More talks by Dr. Dowler on a range of issues

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Medicaid and Telehealth Episode 1: Interview with Becky Sanders

Guest bio

Becky is a Senior Director for the Indiana Rural Health Association (IRHA), where she engages with the other senior directors of the IRHA Executive Team in strategic planning and guidance for the future of the IRHA.  She works with a wide variety of healthcare providers throughout the state of Indiana and maintains relationships with other state organizations to foster public/private partnerships on behalf of the IRHA. 

Becky also serves as the Program Director for the Upper Midwest Telehealth Resource Center (UMTRC).  In this role, she provides technical assistance and resources for healthcare facilities in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.  The UMTRC serves as a single point of contact for telehealth resources through educational presentations, individualized technical assistance, facilitation, and connections to telehealth information via the website and program staff.

Ms. Sanders has been with the IRHA since 2008.  She has a Lean Healthcare Black Belt Certification from Purdue Healthcare Advisors and is a National Rural Health Association Fellow.  Becky previously worked in telecommunications for the National Exchange Carrier Association. Ms. Sanders has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana State University and a Masters of Business Administration in Healthcare Management from Western Governors University. 

Highlights from this episode

  1. The impact of the pandemic on telehealth usage by providers
  2. Trends in infrastructure needed to support broader use of telehealth
  3. Telehealth trends for Medicaid and Medicaid
  4. Promising new models with care extenders in pharmacies and libraries

Further Exploration

https://www.umtrc.org/engagement/podcasts/

  • https://www.indianaruralhealth.org/

https://www.umtrc.org/resources/reimbursement/

https://www.cchpca.org/

https://telehealthresourcecenter.org/

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Medicaid and Jail Health Episode 2: Interview with Blaire Bryant

Guest bio

Blaire Bryant is the Associate Legislative Director for Health at the National Association of Counties. In this capacity she works with county officials across the nation to set NACo’s policies on matters related to health policy and the public health system. Blaire holds a B.A. in Biopsychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and a Master’s Degree in Community Health Education from the University of Maryland College Park.

Highlights from this episode

  1. The challenge of using jails and prisons for mental health care delivery
  2. Key terms, especially pre-trial detainees, post-conviction, recidivism
  3. NACO’s partnership with sheriff’s association
  4. Constitutional issues around removing healthcare coverage for pre-trial detainees
  5. Key differences between jails and prisons, especially the different continuity of care issues
  6. Medicaid inmate exclusion policy- key issues, impact, efforts to change
  7. NACO top objectives- educate federal partners and the general public on the inmate exclusion policy, advocate for change in federal policy to allow pre-trial detainees to continue to receive federal policy, provide resources for local level advocates to pursue change, and create one body of research that examines all the components in the issue
  8. In depth discussion of recent legislative efforts
  9. State options to improve right now, including suspending Medicaid enrollment vs terminating it, and options for 1115 waivers

Further Exploration

Blaire’s recommended reads