Medicaid Managed Care - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging

THE STATE OF THE STATES
TUESDAY, JULY 22, 1997
U.S. SENATE,
SPECIAL CoMMrIrEE ON AGING,
Washington, DC.
The forum met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m., in the Dirksen
<strong>Senate</strong> Office Building. Ms. Susan Christensen, Public Policy Fellow,
presiding.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MS. SUSAN CHRISTENSEN
Ms. CHRISTENSEN. Good morning. I am Susan Christensen, a fellow
with the Aging <strong>Committee</strong>. I would also like to introduce Hope
Hegstrom and LaVita Westbrook from our staff, and Ken Cohen
from Senator Breaux's staff. Is there anybody else from Senator
Breaux's staff? [No response.]
This series of forums developed after the <strong>Committee</strong> had a hearing
about people with chronic conditions who are dually eligible for
<strong>Medicaid</strong> and Medicare. The issues we encountered as we worked
on that hearing could be divided in many ways. We divided them
roughly into four main themes which are the topics of these four
forums.
At the first forum, we got a picture of what it means to be a person
with special needs. The theme of the second forum was the
ability of the current managed care industry to deliver health chre
effectively to individuals with a wide variety of specialized needs.
The forum last week addressed quality and outcome measures.
Today we have five people to help us look at the process of State
contracting for systems of care for their <strong>Medicaid</strong> populations, especially
beneficiaries who have special needs-we are hoping we are
going to have five people.
Our panelists will each give a short presentation, and then we'll
have time for questions and discussion. Keep track of your questions,
and we'll have time for them after the presentations.
Ultimately, the <strong>Committee</strong> plans to publish the information generated
by these forums and make it available to Congress and the
public.
At this time, the <strong>Committee</strong> would like to thank Bill Scanlon
from GAO and his staff, Sally Kaplan and Kathy Allen for their assistance
in all of these forums, helping us to articulate our concept
and coordinate these presentations.
Once again, I have to thank LaVita Westbrook, who is the organizer
of all the details; without her, these forums would not happen.
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