In March 2014, CMS awarded planning grants to qualified states to test quality measurement tools and to demonstrate e-health in the Medicaid community. The demonstration grant program known as “Testing Experience and Functional Assessment Tools (TEFT) in Medicaid Community-Based Long-Term Services and Supports” awarded $45 million to 10 qualified state applicants.
One of the CMS grant awards went to the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH). The four year grant for $489,043 will be used to test quality measurement tools and to demonstrate e-health in Medicaid long term services.
Also, with the funding, Georgia will demonstrate the Personal Health Record (PHR) component by working collaboratively with CMS and the Georgia Institute of Technology to survey populations in Georgia’s Home and Community-Based Services Waiver programs.
“We’re excited that Georgia was selected to participate in the TEFT program,” said Kelly Gonzalez, Chief, for the DCH’s Division of Health IT. “This award maximizes our efforts to further health information technology by demonstrating how long-term services recipients can benefit from personal health records.”
The TEFT initiative also includes contracts for technical assistance and evaluation and two interagency agreements with DOD and the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT.
Specifically, TEFT is going to:
- Field test an experience survey to assess services rendered to Medicaid Community Long Term Services and Supports (CB-LTSS)
- Field test Continuity Assessment Record & Evaluation (CARE) functional assessment measures to ensure that the needs of the Medicaid CB-LTSS population are addressed
- Demonstrate how useful a personal health record is for the Medicaid CB-LTSS population
- Identify, evaluate and harmonize electronic Long-Term Services and Supports (e-LTSS) standards for e-LTSS records in conjunction with the ONC Standards and Interoperability Framework
The other states that received TEFT funding include Arizona ($343.222), Colorado ($382,386), Connecticut ($500,000), Kentucky ($500,000), Louisiana ($410,215), Maryland ($209,659), and Minnesota ($494,967) plus New Hampshire received $68,732 to field test the experience survey.
For more information, go to www.medicaid.gov.