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Blog

A Blog is a short post written by C-TAC or its friends that updates the membership on relevant topics.

Marisette Hasan

C-TAC’s Vice President of Community Action and Policy, Marisette Hasan, will be recognized for excellence in nursing practice and commitment to the nursing profession by Palmetto Gold at their annual gala on April 27 in Columbia, SC. Each year, nurses are selected for Palmetto Gold through a nomination and selection process that includes nurses from across South Carolina in a…

dementia care

C-TAC’s Senior Regulatory Advisor, Dr. Marian Grant, co-authored a recent Journal of the American Geriatrics Society article on how the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) GUIDE Dementia care model is actually a serious illness model. The GUIDE model is the first CMMI model to address all 11 of CTAC’s principles for models for serious illness care. The…

Nothing gets done in Washington, right? Well…in a year when Congress had the fewest bills passed, ever, and polarization seemed at its highest, it was a breakthrough year for C-TAC’s policy advocacy. The public policy wins in this recap of 2023 will have an immediate impact for patients, caregivers, and their care teams in 2024. We couldn’t have done it…

child serious illness

  The passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010 brought with it sweeping changes to  American health care. Healthcare exchanges, Medicaid expansion, and nondiscrimination for preexisting conditions are only a few of the new policies that signaled a new chapter in American health care. Among those changes were policies regarding pediatric concurrent care. Under Section 2302 of the Affordable…

Capital Hill CTAC update

Election years can sometimes lead Members of Congress to focus on winning votes at home and avoiding tough votes in the nation’s capital or delaying action until after the election what should be addressed today. Getting major policy changes through Congress can be challenging even in good times, but there may still be opportunities for small but important bipartisan victories…

palliative home care

In the January 2024 issue of the Journal of Palliative Medicine, leadership from Blue Shield of CA and researchers from West Health Research Institute found that home-based palliative care delivered to people not yet eligible for hospice, reduced hospitalizations, increased length of life, and extended the continuum of care delivered at home for people with serious illness and their caregivers….

CMS announced a new model to test approaches for addressing the behavioral and physical health, as well as health-related social needs, of people with Medicaid and Medicare. The Innovation in Behavioral Health (IBH) Model’s goal is to improve the overall quality of care and outcomes for adults with mental health conditions and/or substance use disorder by connecting them with the…

CTAC AHA

C-TAC and the American Heart Association (AHA) launched the “Improving Quality of Life for People with Heart Failure through Integration of Palliative Care Services” initiative in 2023, bringing together a national clinical advisory council, state coalitions, health systems, and health plans in Alabama, California, Hawai’i, and Louisiana to develop a standardized palliative care referral pathway for people with heart failure….

sickle cell treatment access

The White House announced (fact sheet) the selection of sickle cell disease (SCD) as the initial focus of the Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Access Model, aimed at enhancing health outcomes, increasing access to therapies, and reducing healthcare costs for vulnerable populations. With over 100,000 Americans affected by SCD, the model, led by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services…

Humana Foundation logo

The Humana Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Humana, Inc. based in Louisville, KY, recently awarded C-TAC a three-year grant to advance its regional health equity mission to support seniors by creating emotional connectedness and healthy lives. C-TAC will build on its foundational work in Louisville to identify and deploy trusted community leaders to connect seniors in underserved communities to community…

Capitol Hill

The House and Senate are finally back in session. The priority issue for most in Congress is preventing a partial government shutdown. Immediate attention will be devoted to the proposed topline spending deal announced by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on January 7th, including a modest less than 1 percent cut from current non-defense funding….

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signing law

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed AB 5225 into law on December 21, 2023, requiring the development of a palliative care services benefit aimed to improve the quality of life for Medicaid beneficiaries with serious illness and their caregivers. The benefit will give access to needed ongoing assistance by an interdisciplinary team, including management and support for pain and other…