Understanding the Role, Responsibilities, and Reach of IMI’s Committees and Subcommittees

Caroline E. Adams & Chloe Bakst

The Institute for Medicaid Innovation (IMI) has established committees and subcommittees to guide and inform the organization’s mission, vision, and strategic plan. The committees bring together a diverse array of national and state Medicaid stakeholders, including representatives from Medicaid health plans, state Medicaid agencies, clinical groups, the federal government, professional organizations, universities, and advocacy organizations. All project concepts that IMI leads originate from one of its committees and subcommittees. 

There are three overarching committees: Data and Research (D&R), Dissemination and Implementation (D&I), and Communication. The former two committees have underlying subcommittees; the Social Determinants of Health and Annual Medicaid Managed Care organization (MCO) Survey subcommittees are included under the D&R umbrella.  The Health of All Women in Medicaid, Behavioral Health, and Child and Adolescent Health subcommittees are included under the D&I committee umbrella. Committees meet monthly, while subcommittees typically meet quarterly. However, additional ad hoc meetings that are project specific may be scheduled. IMI welcomes new committee members on an ongoing basis. 

Each committee and subcommittee have an established charter outlining its purpose and goals. You can learn more here. A list of the current topics that each committee and subcommittee is focused on is provided below.

Data & Research Committee

• Annual Medicaid MCO survey with sections focused on value-based purchasing, high-risk care coordination, pharmacy, women’s health, child and adolescent health, behavioral health, managed long term services and supports, and social determinants of health.
• Collection of COVID-19-specific information through the survey.
• Risk adjustment models in Medicaid.
• Readability of state Medicaid enrollment forms.
• State strategies to facilitate Medicaid enrollment during COVID-19.
• Understanding the impact and value of temporary policies enacted during COVID-19, such as telehealth.
• Development of national standards for measuring the contribution of community health workers.
• Medicaid state fact sheets.

Annual Medicaid MCO Survey Subcommittee

• Annual Medicaid MCO survey with sections focused on value-based purchasing, high risk care coordination, pharmacy, women’s health, child and adolescent health, behavioral health, MLTSS, and social determinants of health.
• Market analysis and benchmarks on Medicaid managed care.
• Trend analysis of Medicaid MCOs, 2016-2020.
• Collection of COVID-19 specific information through the survey.

Social Determinants of Health Subcommittee

• Standardized screening of social needs on Medicaid enrollment forms.
• Readability and accessibility of state Medicaid enrollment forms.
• Evidence-based, high-value technology platforms that support connecting individuals with community health workers and resources.
• Integration and sharing of data and information between Medicaid MCOs and community-based organizations.
• Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on Medicaid MCO efforts to address member social needs.
• Assessing the impact of community health workers and the processes by which they achieve impact.

Dissemination & Implementation Committee

• Best practices in Medicaid managed care specific to value-based purchasing, high risk care coordination, pharmacy, women’s health, child and adolescent health, behavioral health, MLTSS, and social determinants of health.
• Three-year, multi-stakeholder innovation incubator focused on reducing disparities through health system and payment reform.
• Understanding access to high-quality, person-centered contraceptive care via telehealth during COVID-19.
• Understanding access to well-child visits and immunizations for children during COVID-19.
• Understanding the impact of changing technology during COVID-19.
• Understanding the impact and value of temporary policies enacted during COVID-19..
• Role of nurse-midwives and freestanding birth centers in Medicaid, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Subcommittee on the Health of All Women in Medicaid

• Fourth trimester coverage for women enrolled in Medicaid.
• Disparities and state variation in maternal mortality and morbidity.
• Building upon the momentum of the newly released, comprehensive resource on high-value, evidence-based maternal models of care that are under-utilized in Medicaid.
• Access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARC).
• Levels of maternity care access, focusing on the implications of maternal health care access during COVID-19.
• Utilization of IT to increase access to care.
• Women’s health across the lifespan including older women in MLTSS.
• Changing regulations and guidance on women’s health, including prenatal visits, telehealth, and maternal mental health as part of the response to COVID-19.

Child & Adolescent Health Subcommittee

• Two generation model approaches.
• The effect of COVID-19 on children’s health, including access to care such as well-visits and immunizations, access to food, safe living environments, and quality education, and mental health issues including loneliness. 
• Asthma and parental smoking.
• Parental mental health including maternal depression, adverse childhood events, and child abuse.
• Childhood obesity.

Behavioral Health Subcommittee

• Behavioral health and telehealth policies during COVID-19, including innovative approaches to behavioral health service delivery.
• Social isolation and loneliness from decreased socialization during COVID-19.
• Capturing telehealth data, including no-show rates for telepsychiatry and other behavioral health services delivered via telehealth, during COVID-19. 
• New Medicaid enrollees and behavioral health services.
• Physical and behavioral health integration including value-based payment and high-risk care coordination.
• Substance use disorder.
• Maternal mental health including prenatal mood disorders and postpartum depression.

Communications Committee

• World Health Organization’s Year of the Nurse and Midwife compendium project phase two focused on highlighting the contribution of nurses and midwives to Medicaid during COVID-19.
• Collaboration while disseminating  IMI resources including reports, toolkits, blog posts, etc.
• Role of Medicaid in responding to COVID-19.