Download the slides from John Peller’s presentation here.

Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum produced this great video, Open Enrollment Style – Gangnam Style Parody, that’s ripe for sharing.

If you come across a clever, funny, creative or innovative way to get the word out about the ACA, send it our way so we can share it.

On May 1, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) released an informational bulletin on coordination between Medicaid and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS programs.

The bulletin provides a background on the Ryan White program, including its “payer of last resort” rule and the requirement that grantees check Ryan White client eligibility every six months for different coverage options. The bulletin specifically mentions the importance of an effective transition of Ryan White clients enrolled in AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) and Medicaid.

To help coordination, CMS and HRSA plan to conduct a series of webinars for providers, states and other stakeholders on a number of topics, including eligibility, enrollment, essential community providers, best practices in managed care, and integrated care models.

We look forward to lots more coordination from HRSA and CMS in the coming months.

Read the bulletin.

Check out additional HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau ACA resources

This report addresses the challenges of Affordable Care Act implementation in Illinois. First, it provides demographic information regarding Illinois’ immigrant population and characteristics that have implications for implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Second, this report highlights the barriers that immigrants in Illinois face as they attempt to access health coverage—barriers that will become more salient as the Affordable Care Act is implemented this October. Finally, this report offers an existing model, the Immigrant Family Resource Program (IFRP), that was developed to address the barriers for immigrants that surfaced in the wake of the 1996 federal welfare law. The report will demonstrate that a similar programmatic model will be necessary to address the barriers that immigrants will face as they attempt to utilize the new marketplace in Illinois.

Download the report (PDF).

Visit ICIRR’s website.

Check out resources for people who speak Spanish on HIVHealthReform.org.

HIV Medical Clinics and Health Reform – Preparing for 2014 from HIVHealthReform.org on Vimeo.

Did you miss the webinar, HIV Medical Clinics and Health Reform-Preparing for 2014? It’s not too late. You can now see the video.

WATCH THE FULL WEBINAR HERE =>DOWNLOAD THE WEBINAR SLIDES HERE (PDF)

Resources mentioned during the webinar

HIVMA fact sheets

-Contracting with new private and managed care plans
-Increased Medicaid reimbursement for primary care providers
-Preparing for Health Care Reform: The new coverage options
-Health Care Reform & Essential Community Providers: Information for Ryan White Providers

San Francisco HIV Health Reform Task Force materials

-Download and customize this Q & A for clients (MS Word)
-Check out this planning guide for local organizations

Southern AIDS Coalition & National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors

-Webinar slides: What happens next? Health Reform Strategies for States not Expanding Medicaid

Additional resources from presenter Julia Hidalgo

American Medical Association Practice Management Center
Families USA Health Reform Central
HIV Medical Association
HRSA Bureau of Primary Health Care

HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau
-Target Center ACA resources
-HIV/AIDS Bureau ACA guidance

Kaiser Family Foundation Health Reform
National Association of Community Health Centers
National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors
Positive Outcomes, Inc. Readiness Tools
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Health Reform
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – HealthCare.gov

Co-sponsored by HIVHealthReform.org, American Academy of HIV Medicine, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, HIV Medicine Association, and the Ryan White Medical Providers Coalition

Many people with HIV who currently rely on the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program will begin enrolling in Medicaid or new marketplace coverage in October 2013 for coverage effective in January 2014.

Are you an HIV clinic manager or medical provider with questions about how to prepare your program and patients and to participate in health care reform?

Learn from health care financing and Ryan White Program expert Julia Hidalgo, ScD, MSW, MPH how you can ready your medical program or clinic for health care reform.  Dr. Hidalgo will discuss nuts-and-bolts steps to ensure readiness, including meeting the Ryan White Program payer of last resort requirement, contracting with Medicaid and commercial insurance plans, maximizing third party reimbursement, and educating patients about how to enroll in health plans to ensure access to HIV-experienced care.

This webinar is an intermediate, 1.5 hour-long webinar targeted to medical clinic managers and HIV medical providers (physicians, nurses and other clinicians) working in programs, with a focus on those agencies receiving Ryan White Program funding.  This webinar is designed for individuals seeking intermediate readiness training!

Well, look what magically appeared, thanks to the great folks in San Francisco… A customizable frequently asked questions document about the Affordable Care Act designed for Ryan White Program clients.

Download this Microsoft Word document and customize away.  You’ll note that we highlighted the places where you need to fill in local information.

This resource includes information on Medicaid, coverage through the marketplaces, and services for immigrants who are undocumented.  Download it today and get the word out!

Special thanks to Anne Donnelly, Courtney Mulhern Pearson, Harder+Company Community Research, and the San Francisco HIV Health Care Reform Task Force, for sharing this document.  Check out another great resource from the Task Force.

Here’s the task force’s description of the document:

Medical and non-medical providers of HIV services play a crucial role in supporting San Franciscans living with HIV as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is implemented in 2014 and beyond. A successful transition process will ensure that people with HIV are able to engage in the new system of care with minimal interruptions in services.

This document presents considerations for medical and non-medical providers of HIV services to prepare for this transition. It contains information on finance and eligibility changes; how to begin preparing clients for the transition; and where to find updates and additional resources—and is organized into sections for organizations that DO provide services that are reimbursable through medical insurance,
organizations that DO NOT, and ALL HIV Service Organizations. The San Francisco HIV Health Care Reform Task Force will update this document periodically, as more information becomes available.

Download the implementation guide here (PDF), share it with your community, and start planning!

Special thanks to Anne Donnelly, Courtney Mulhern Pearson, Harder+Company Community Research, and the San Francisco HIV Health Care Reform Task Force, for sharing this document.  Check out another great resource from the Task Force.

Check out more resources on enrollment, providers, state & local implementation and other topics from HRSA and other partners.

•    The ACA and Closing the Medicare Part D Donut Hole (MS Word doc)
•    The ACA and New Free Medicare Preventive Services (MS Word doc)
•    The ACA and Adult Preventive Services (non-Medicare) (MS Word doc)
•    The ACA Health Insurance Marketplace (MS Word doc)
•    The ACA and New Rules for Insurance Companies (MS Word doc)
•    The ACA and Hospital Care Transitions (MS Word doc)
•    How the ACA Helps People Afford Insurance (coming soon)

Download these fact sheets and spread them far and wide!

Our friends at HIVMA have produced another great fact sheet for understanding health care reform. They provide information on what to expect if your state has accepted or declined Medicaid expansions, what to expect with the different types of marketplaces (state-run, federal facilitated, or partnership), and the role that the Ryan White Program with these reforms.

See the fact sheet.

Currently in the United States, it is estimated that there are approximately 47.9 million non-elderly people who are uninsured, some of whom are individuals living with HIV. With new health reforms under the Affordable Care Act, we can expect many people who are uninsured and living with HIV and other chronic conditions will have new options for health insurance. The HIVMA fact sheet is a good resource to begin to prepare individuals and service providers for these changes.

Go to the HIVMA resource to learn more about what kinds of changes and options you can expect to see.

See where your state stands on Medicaid expansion and marketplaces.
Check out our new ‘State Resources for ACA Implementation’ page.

In a move to address health disparities and promote culturally informed health care services, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS). In CLAS, the Office of Minority Health specifically outlines culturally appropriate standards for working with individuals who identify as LGBT.

This is an important step forward for our health care system and specifically for people living with HIV! For the many individuals living with HIV who identify as LGBT, CLAS standards will hold their health care providers to higher standards of culturally appropriate care.

Additionally, HHS has formulated an implementation blueprint to outline the ways in which health care providers can concretely improve and work toward culturally and linguistically inclusive practices:

“The implementation blueprint for the standards emphasizes that discrimination based on factors such as sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression impedes the provision of quality care and services. It calls on facilities and providers to provide all individuals with assurances that disrespect or discrimination of any kind is not tolerated.

Further, to help avoid expensive and dangerous conflicts related to cultural misunderstandings between providers and their patients, the blueprint encourages facilities and health care providers to undertake regular trainings on the needs of patients from different cultural backgrounds, including LGBT people.”

Continue reading on Think Progress’s blog.
Learn more about the CLAS Standards.