In earlier editions of the Primary Care Review we covered the MIHealthyLife initiative, a competitive procurement to award the next cycle of contracts for Michigan’s Medicaid health plans, which combined serve 2.2 million Michiganders receiving coverage through Medicaid and the Healthy Michigan Plan.
Earlier this month, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) announced the successful contract awardees. The estimated total value of contracts awarded is $15.7 billion. The nine plans now providing coverage for Medicaid and Healthy Michigan stay the same, but there were some changes within regions. The new contracts will take effect on October 1, 2024 and will extend for five-years with three optional one-year extensions possible.
Here is a breakdown of what the coverage options for Medicaid members will look like when the new award goes into effect. A (-) in the last column indicates that a current plan will not be renewed, and a (+) means that a plan that is not currently servicing Medicaid members in a region will be doing so with the new awards.
The information is important because the new plan contracts include provisions that prioritizing health equity, addressing social determinants of health, increasing childhood immunization rates and improving access to health care providers.
Several of these changes seek to address social determinants of health through investment in and engagement with community-based organizations. The introduction of “in lieu of services” is one of these important changes and will allow plans to pay for nutrition services that have been shown to improve health.
Michigan Multipayer Initiatives 