House Bill 1280 - Summary

• Managed care organizations (MCOs) contracting with the Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning must report annually on their culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) standards plans and implementation progress to the select joint commission on Medicaid oversight.

• MCOs must implement CLAS standards, develop community-based health disparities advisory councils with specified membership including minority Medicaid recipients and external stakeholders, and measure health disparities using HEDIS standards.

• The Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning shall include cultural competency criteria in requests for proposals for MCO services and award preferences to bidders demonstrating cultural competency with minority populations.

• The office must establish standards for continuity of care when Medicaid recipients transfer between MCOs, collect race and primary language data during enrollment, and report annually on transfer numbers, reasons, and health outcomes by race.

• Beginning January 1, 2012, the office may withhold a percentage of MCO reimbursements based on lack of progress in improving health disparity outcomes; Medicaid contractors must implement at least two quality improvement initiatives to reduce health disparities.