CSH Medicaid Crosswalk: Connecticut

This CSH Medicaid Crosswalk "Understanding Supportive Housing Services and Potential Medicaid Reimbursement in Connecticut" summarizes the results of a Connecticut analysis in which services in supportive housing are "crosswalked" with the package of services offered under the State's 1915c Home and Community Based Services Waiver for people with serious mental illness discharged from nursing homes. The services provided through this Medicaid mechanism serves as an excellent example for any future Medicaid coverage for individuals experiencing chronic homelessness with chronic behavioral health conditions.

A CSH Crosswalk is a state-specific reference document that illustrates what services provided in supportive housing are eligible for Medicaid reimbursement. 

Project Renewal

Project Renewal is located in New York, NY. The program reaches mentally ill, chemically abusing individuals released from state prison with a minimum year of parole. The program utilizes transitional housing, wrap-around support, mental health, health, and employment services.

Denver Housing First Collaborative (DHFC)

This project profile offers details about the Denver Housing First Collaborative (DHFC).

 

DHFC was created in 2003 by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to work towards the creation of lasting solutions for homeless families and individuals by integrating housing, healthcare and support services. CCH is the lead agency in the DHFC in collaboration with Denver Department of Human Services, Denver Health and Hospitals Association, Arapahoe Housing Substance Treatment, the Mental Health Center of Denver, and the Denver VA Medical Center.

 

As one of 11 programs funded nationally through HUD and the Ending Chronic Homeless Initiative program, DHFC seeks to provide disabled, chronically homeless individuals with supportive housing. DHFC has a capacity of 100, and it received 622 applications by its sixth month of operation. With a housing first approach, DHFC provides its clients with assertive community treatment (ACT) that includes services in integrated health, mental health, substance abuse and general support.

 

In 2005, CCH established a second Housing First ACT team to serve 80 chronically homeless individuals targeted to those with mental health and substance treatment issues living on the streets in Downtown Denver.

Conrad N. Hilton and Weingart Foundations Tour Downtown Los Angeles Skidrow

On April 30, over 30 representatives of foundations from all over the country took time out from the Council on Philanthropy Conference to participate in a walking tour of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles. This tour was organized by the Conrad N. Hilton and Weingart Foundations, and co-sponsored by the Durfee Foundation and Funders Together to End Homelessness.

As part of the orientation to Skid Row, the Los Angeles Poverty Department shared one of their dramatic readings highlighting the life and times of people who have devoted their lives to working on Skid Row. Staff members, tenants and clients joined the foundation leaders on tours of supportive housing and a unique Federally Qualified Health Center that has created a medical home for this community. One of the foundation participants shared, "This is what makes me ashamed of our country while at the same time it is what makes me proud.”

There is much to be done, but we feel proud that over 4,000 units of  supportive housing now exist in this community where people who have felt abandoned now are discovering recovery, healing and hope.  CSH is proud to have contributed financial and technical assistance to the creation of over 1,500 of these units.

 

 

 

 

NYU Begins Evaluation Work on Social Innovation Fund

CSH and its partners have selected a team of researchers from New York University to conduct a rigorous evaluation of CSH’s Social Innovation Fund initiative. This study builds upon and contributes to the growing body of evidence that shows that the combination of affordable housing, care management and access to health services improves health and behavioral health outcomes while lowering public costs among vulnerable individuals with chronic conditions who are homeless.

NYU’s  evaluation of CSH’s Social Innovation Fund initiative is unprecedented both as the first ever multi-site study examining the impact of supportive housing on health and health care costs, and as the first study to specify the cost impacts on Medicaid compared with other public sources and between the federal, state, and county dollars.

“If positive, the results from this evaluation could have a profound impact on housing and health care policy, providing justification for making new and coordinated investments of mainstream housing subsidies and capital with mainstream health care resources, namely, Medicaid, to provide solutions that work for the most vulnerable and complex populations,” says Jacquelyn Anderson, Senior Program Manager, Research and Evaluation at CSH.

The research team represents three schools of NYU – Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and the School of Medicine – and brings a depth and breadth of expertise both in terms of methodological approaches as well as substantive knowledge of homelessness and health care interventions and policy.  “Given the nature of the larger health policy debate, we are very excited to have this opportunity to evaluate an innovative approach to reducing healthcare costs that focuses on the combination of housing and case management,” says Beth Weitzman, Vice Dean and Professor of Health and Public Policy the Steinhardt School .

Support for the evaluation comes from both the federal Social Innovation Fund grant and CSH’s partners in philanthropy.  CSH and its partners are extremely excited to be collaborating with such an experienced team of researchers and to commission this definitive study of supportive housing’s value as a health intervention and health policy solution.

READ MORE ABOUT CSH’S SOCIAL INNOVATION FUND INITIATIVE AND MEET THE SUBGRANTEES

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Wrapping Up Historic Supreme Court Health Reform Debate

History was truly in the making last week as the Supreme Court heard arguments both for and against the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Among other changes, the ACA enacted a provision that’s important for supportive housing when it was signed into law in 2010: It expanded Medicaid eligibility to people living at up to 133% of the federal poverty level.

As the court began hearing arguments on the constitutionality of this and other elements of the ACA (notably the insurance mandate), thousands of citizens flooded the sidewalks and streets surrounding the Supreme Court to voice their support of the ACA. And CSH was among them.

Securing resources for services is often the most difficult piece of the supportive housing puzzle. When residents are not eligible for insurance and enrolled in Medicaid, providers are left to piece together fragmented primary and behavioral health care resources. That means more challenges for supportive housing staff and residents--especially in states without dedicated supportive housing resources.

But health insurance and especially Medicaid can play a significant role in helping supportive housing programs find sustainable services funding. The ACA not only assures that residents are covered, but it also contains several Medicaid benefit options for states—offering flexibility to adopt the tactics that work best.

So far, the primary argument against the ACA when it comes to this Medicaid expansion is that the states would be forced to accept federal funding in order to support their Medicaid program under the new provisions. To this interpretation, Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg responded: “Isn’t that true of every Medicaid increase? That each… and every time, the condition is ‘if you want the Medicaid program, this is the program. Take it or leave it.’”

At CSH, we hope that the rest of the Supreme Court follows her lead. We will follow developments in the case and will report updates as they become available.

And we hope you will follow the case as well. The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare has a detailed summary of the issues at stake and of the three day hearing, as does FamiliesUSA.

 

Two Funding Opportunities in LA County

With support from Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the W.M. Keck Foundation and the UniHealth Foundation,  CSH recently announced the availability of funding for two programs: Transition Age Youth and the Frequent Users Systems Engagement (FUSE) Program.

Find more information about funding opportunities for Transition Age Youth.

For more information about funding opportunities through LA's FUSE program.

14th Annual International Conference on Hoarding and Cluttering

The 14th Annual International Conference on Hoarding and Cluttering (April 26 - 27 at the  San Francisco Airport Westin Hotel) is an innovative multidisciplinary event that draws together stakeholders and experts across fields with a focus on solutions to the personal and community burdens that arise from hoarding, cluttering and collecting behaviors.

The two-day conference hosted by the Mental Health Association of San Francisco will include various panels and presentations in both breakout and poster session format and will be focused on the conference’s four core domains of:

  • Community and Collaborations
  •  Individual Empowerment and Recovery
  •  Research
  • Clinical Skills Training.

The goals of the conference are to advance research in the field, provide clinical practitioners with opportunities to develop and acquire new skills, grow the resources and knowledge of community advocates and policy makers, and provide techniques for self-¬help, peer and social supports to people personally experiencing hoarding/ cluttering impacts in their daily lives.

visit the conference website for more information

New RFP Opportunity: Integrating Health Care and Supportive Housing for Homeless Frequent Users of Hospitals in Los Angeles

CSH, with support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the UniHealth Foundation, is pleased to announce the availability of funding to support the creation of, access to and stability in supportive housing for frequent users of hospital emergency and inpatient departments in Los Angeles County. The goal of CSH’s Frequent Users Systems Engagement (FUSE) pilot identifies and houses 60 homeless frequent users through regional hospital-FQHC-housing collaborations using the Economic Roundtable’s 10th Decile Triage Tool.  Collaboratives to date include the Westside and Downtown Los Angeles.

CSH is seeking to fund a new healthcare–housing collaborative between a homeless service provider, housing provider, federal qualified health care center (FQHC) and a hospital, that partners to identify, support, and house 10 chronically homeless frequent users of health services during the project period. Target geographic regions include South L.A., South Bay, San Gabriel Valley, and San Fernando Valley. Project proposals may range from $90,000 - $100,000 over a grant period of one year. CSH is seeking proposals from teams of homeless service providers, hospitals, FQHCs, and housing developers.

The FUSE collaborative  will be selected through the Home for Good Spring 2012 Request for Proposals (RFP).  As part of the Los Angeles Home For Good plan, public and private funders have created a Funders Collaborative to align funding for permanent supportive housing.  The Home For Good Funders Collaborative has created a single request for proposals, aligned values and priorities, and will make funding decisions collaboratively.  To access the online portal, please go to www.partnerunitedla.org and enter basic information about your organization. Once we have received your request for a user ID, United Way will email your organization a log in name and password to the online portal.

Online applications must be submitted by April 20, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. The successful team will be notified by June 14, 2012.

For more information please contact Susan Lee at susan.lee@csh.org.

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