New Mexico Improves Its Medicaid Claims System to Help Pay for Youth Services
In a new webinar, Public Works Alliance, a grantee of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, describes how New Mexico increased funding for youth services by improving the way it claims Medicaid reimbursements.
Increasing Services for Young People Through Medicaid Claims Maximization details key steps child-serving systems can use to secure what could be millions in unclaimed federal reimbursement dollars.
New Mexico’s Children, Youth and Families Department increased its revenue by nearly $4 million annually using a reimbursement claiming strategy designed and implemented by consultants Public Works Alliance and Optimas Services, Inc. The panelists encouraged participants to see Medicaid as an underused resource and shared their experience of navigating the complexities of tracking and claiming administrative activities. By improving practices for claiming the available federal reimbursement for eligible staff work, systems can better support the populations they serve and expand community-based behavioral health care services, the speakers explained.
“Child welfare agencies are often operating in resource-limited realities, and Medicaid can be a vital component of a fiscal strategy that ensures dollars are going as far as possible to support the well-being of children, youth and families,” says Sarah Morris-Compton, webinar moderator and senior associate with the Casey Foundation. Other panelists included:
- Alex Briscoe, director, Public Works Alliance; and
- Patrick Sutton, president, Optimas Services, Inc.
