States Implementing Health Reform Six-Part Webinar Series

NCSL Webinars allow attendees to participate in meetings taking place around the world from the comfort of their desk. They are collaborative, interactive and easy to use. All health webinars will be recorded for those who are unable to attend the live meeting.

Webinars (Archives)

States Implementing Health Reform:  2011 Timeline
(Audio Archive Available!)
Wednesday, November 10th

State implementation of the Affordable Care Act has just begun. As health reform's inaugural year, 2010 was the start of a long journey to the largest expansion of health insurance coverage in history. As we approach the 2014 implementation date, each year will be significant toward building a foundation to support these changes. So what’s next for 2011? Participate in a discussion addressing the timeline for 2011 and approaches legislatures should consider as they move forward. More

Speaker: 
Rachel Morgan, Committee Director, National Conference of State Legislatures 

States Implementing Health Reform:  Advancing Health through Nursing
(Audio Archive Available!)
Wednesday, November 17th

This webinar will feature Secretary Donna Shalala and Dr. John Rowe presenting the conclusions of the new Institute of Medicine report entitled The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health. David Swankin will discuss the state policy considerations involved in expanding scope of practice for nurses. More

Speakers: 
Donna E. Shalala, Ph.D., FAAN, Chair, Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine; President and Professor of Political Science, University of Miami
John W. Rowe, M.D., Member, Committee on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing, at the Institute of Medicine; Professor, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
David Swankin, J.D., President and CEO, Citizen Advocacy Center

States Implementing Health Reform:  Consumer Assistance and Insurance Oversight
(Audio Archive Available!)
PowerPoint Presentation - PDF File
Wednesday, December 1st

For many who are already enrolled or seeking immediate coverage in private market insurance, reform has already arrived. The right to appeal denials of treatment, consumer assistance offices, reviews of premium rates and 50-state expanded use of high-risk pools  are new features available to tens of millions of Americans.  States have numerous options for leading the efforts, or declining to administer these policies, all of which are based on some existing state laws.  More

Speakers:
Steve Larsen, Deputy Director, Office of Oversight at HHS/ Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (OCIIO), Washington, D.C.
Brian Webb, Manager, Health Policy & Legislation, National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), Washington, D.C.
Marcy Morrison, Commissioner, Colorado Division of Insurance, Denver, CO (Jan. 2007-Nov. 2010)
Moderator: Richard Cauchi, Program Director, Health Program, NCSL

States Implementing Health Reform:  Exchanges Part II
(Audio Archive Available!) 
PowerPoint Presentation - PDF File
Wednesday, December 15th, 2:00 p.m. EST

This webinar will address state actions taken so far to implement the American Health Benefit Exchange Provision in the Affordable Care Act of 2010. The session panel will discuss federal planning and support opportunities and assistance available to states, challenges to states for implementation and considerations for establishing exchanges, and what California has done to establish and how they plan to implement their state exchange. More

Speakers:
 

Joel Ario, Director, Office of Health Insurance Exchanges, Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, HHS
Bob Carey, Senior Advisor, Public Consulting Group (Former Policy Director for the Massachusetts Connector)
Sumi Sousa, Special Assistant to the Speaker, Office of the Assembly Speaker, California State Assembly 
Sandra Shewry, Advisor, Health Care Reform Implementation, California Health and Human Services Agency

Additional Background Material for the Webinar:
Summary of the California Health Benefit Exchange  

States Implementing Health Reform:  Primary Care Workforce
(Audio Archive Available!)
PowerPoint Presentation - PDF File
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011, 2:00 p.m. EST

The shortage of primary care providers has long been a state policy concern.  In the last decade fewer medical graduates are selecting primary care as a specialty, current primary care providers are retiring or leaving for opportunities in other fields.  With the Affordable Care Act adding an estimated 32 million Americans to the insured rolls there will be even greater strain on the primary care workforce.    

For example, in 2006, Massachusetts enacted health reform legislation that included coverage expansions.  Despite being among the states with very high ratios of total physicians to residents, the number of primary care doctors was inadequate to meet the demand.  A 2009 workforce survey from the Massachusetts Medical Society revealed that 40 percent of family physicians are no longer accepting new patients, up from 30 percent before reform and when patients find an open primary care practice, the average wait time for an appointment is more than 44 days, up from 17 days in 2005.

This webinar will explore how states can begin to address the primary care workforce shortages through innovative policies such as payment reforms and scope of practice changes as well as how states can improve their primary care workforce pipeline. More

States Implementing Health Reform:  Medicaid
(Audio Archive Available!)
PowerPoint Presentation - PDF File
Wednesday, February 2, 2011,  2:00 p.m. EST

The Affordable Care Act contains many provisions that will significantly change aspects of the state Medicaid programs including creating an income eligibility floor of 133% of the federal poverty guidelines ($14,404 for an individual or about $29,326 for a family of four in 2009) and extending eligibility to childless adults, a population that historically has not been eligible for the program.  This webinar will discuss those provisions and the timeline for implementation.  More

Speaker: Cindy Mann, JD, Director, Center for Medicaid and State Operations, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

This webinar series is sponsored by these NCSL projects: Legislative Health Staff Network (LHSN), Men’s Health Project, Primary Care Project, Rural Health Project, Minority Health Project, and NCSL’S Standing Committee on Health, through grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care, Office of Rural Health Policy and HHS’s Office of Minority Health.