# Presentation: 545613

## MassHealth Outreach

## Introduction

- MassHealth expanded its eligibility last July
- Asked to discuss our:
- 	simplified eligibility process
-  	expanded outreach efforts
-  	expanded measurement efforts

## Successes so Far

- As of June 30, 154K new enrollees;
- 			> a 28% increase in 12 months
- 50K kids and 105K adults
- 2/3 were eligible before

## Simplified Eligibility

- Existing elements
- Mail-in application
- 1 800 #

## Simplified Eligibility6 New Elements

- Use one income level for whole family
*Gross*, not *net* income
- Elimination of asset standard
- Reduction of verifications
- No birth certificates
- immigration unnecessary for limited coverage
*2*, not *4* paystubs

## Simplified Eligibility6 New Elements

- Shortened application form (just implemented)
- Automated Eligibility System
- determines eligibility in *3 days* vs. *3 weeks *
- always gives max program available to recipient during initial eligibility or redetermination* *

## Outreach Efforts

- Strategy:  Use a multi-layer, multi-modal approach
- Prior efforts clearly not enough
- People need to hear many times from many different sources before they believe something and act
- No single message or tactic will work

## Outreach Efforts

**1.  Coordination**
**2.  Marketing**
**3.  Kids’ Initiatives**
**4.  Training**

## Outreach Efforts

**1.  Coordination:**
- Old process not enough; we need partners
- Other agencies
- Advocates
- Providers
- Community organizations
- Cities/towns/schools

## Outreach Efforts

- Other Agencies
- All efforts are joint efforts with Public Health:  joint planning, outreach and applications
- Work with child care agency
- Training for other human service agencies
- Work with Department of Education on schools initiative
- Department of Corrections (assist with mailings to deter costs)

## Outreach Efforts

- Advocates
- Monthly Outreach meeting to share experiences and information
- Advocates have worked with providers to create a coalition to support coverage efforts

## Outreach Efforts

- Providers
- Significant discussion ahead of implementation
- Clear financial incentive to participate
- Support with outreach workers who train outreach staff in hospitals and community health centers
- Hospital Association and Medical Association have started their own campaigns

## Outreach Efforts

- Community Organizations
- 52 Mini-grants of $5K - $20K throughout state
- Winners include:
- Community Action Agencies
- Community Health Centers
- Community Associations
- (eg., Vietnamese American Civil Association)

## Community Outreach Brochure

## Outreach Efforts

- Mini-grant award winners will target:
- Geographic communities
- Ethnic or language groups (e.g., Cambodians)
- Populations (e.g., teens and the homeless)
- Their known service populations (e.g., CAP Agencies will contact people receiving fuel assistance)

## Outreach Efforts

- What are they doing?
- Direct mail
- Local media efforts (i.e., newspaper inserts)
- Conducting health fairs
- Door-to-door outreach
- “Innovative things” (i.e., raffle to win a chain saw in a rural area)

## Outreach Efforts

- Communication with grantees
- Train grantee staff
- Set up 5 regional monthly meetings
- Share best practices
- Discuss problems
- Update on policy changes

## Outreach Efforts

- Cities and Towns
- Use Municipal Medicaid program to involve towns
- Targeted cities initiative
- Special commitments by certain towns:  e.g., Lynn

## Outreach Efforts

**2.  Marketing**
-   In addition to partnering with others, we                                                                                                                                                                                                                        have done our own marketing local and                                                                                                                                                                                                                          statewide
-   Publicity
- Press event throughout the state
- Press releases to local papers

## Outreach Efforts

- Promotional Materials
- Rolodex cards (75K to doctors, libraries, teachers and child care)
- Specialty marketing items
- Fact sheets and brochures (food pantries, GED centers, human service providers, 600 community organizations)
- Posters
- Spanish Campaign
- public meetings in Latin communities statewide jointly with local community organizations

## Teen Brochure

## Outreach Efforts

- Advertising
- Cards on buses and trains
- In depth spots on Spanish language station
- Radio PSAs
- Co-sponsor health related events

## Advertising Placard for Public Transportation

## Holiday Brochure

## Outreach Efforts

- 	**3.  Schools/Child Care Initiative**
- First Year:
- 1 page flier to all school and child care kids - public and parochial but depends on local efforts
- Work with school nurses through Public Health
- Next:
- Planning on common emergency referral and as process for offering help and identifying those who need
- Planning on efforts to capture newly registered kids

## School/Day Care Flier

## School/Day Care Flier

## Outreach Efforts

- Other child-related initiatives
- Library campaign
- Recreational facilities
- Summer camps

## Outreach Efforts

**4.  Planned expansion of training efforts**
- Join with other partners
- Train on all programs
- Train at line-worker level beyond hospitals and CHCs

## Measurement

- Tracking enrollment by zip code and language

## Slide 31

## Measurement

- CPS data as base for statewide enrollment
- State survey
- sufficient size to capture regional information
- 3,625 households; 5 regions
- in person interviews along with telephone
- Spanish and English

## Information on Survey

- Also investing in an effort to review different results of CPS, our survey, Urban Institute Survey, to attempt to explain any differences; will also do econometric projections over time for each region so we have a way of being up to date
- Employer survey - will use MEPS

## Problems so Far

- Viewed as only for those on welfare
- Most working families don’t understand this is available
- Immigration and public charge issue

## Lessons Learned

- Providers are very important
- They will get you very far very fast
- But will only capture people once they seek services (not “the last 10%”)
- Must reach out to other organizations
- Cultural/language issues important
- If do job well, also get those with TPL