Community Integration, Health Equity and Quality Care Subcommittee

The Community Integration, Health Equity, and Quality Care Subcommittee is established to advise the Illinois Medicaid Advisory Committee concerning strategies to improve Illinois Medicaid customer outcomes by ensuring that populations covered under Healthcare and Family Services' Medical Assistance Program have efficient, cost effective, and timely access to equitable, quality medical care and community services that meet their needs without discrimination based on race/ethnicity, gender, primary language, disability, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status and by developing recommendations on strategies to ensure that high quality long-term services and supports in the community are accessible and equitable for all seniors and persons with all types of disabilities. The subcommittee, comprised of a diverse group of stakeholders, will identify systemic barriers and propose solutions to achieving both greater community integration, and equitable high quality health care. These strategies will be informed by established evidence-based practices, stakeholder input, federal funding opportunities and programmatic requirements, and the practical realities of Illinois's medical programs, including waiver services.

This subcommittee shall: 

1. Identify and review evidence-based practices and programs that can improve customer care, population health outcomes by addressing strategies supporting the social determinants of health. 
2. Examine barriers that impact customer access to care and utilization of health care and waiver services and recommend strategies to mitigate these barriers.  
3. Recommend improvements to quality metrics and indicators. 
4. Assess streamlined approaches to identifying gaps in the delivery of services to Medicaid Customers. 
5. Identify methods that can be modified or adapted to strengthen continuity of care. 
6. Develop data informed recommendations to improve program implementation and evaluation metrics. 
7. Recommend methods to improve provider participation and network adequacy. 
8. Review and provide recommendations on how the Department can mitigate health disparities and the impact on communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19. 
9. Review and make recommendations to increase the number of seniors and persons with all types of disabilities receiving services in a community setting, as well as to improve the administration and service array in Illinois waiver programs. 
10. Consider and make recommendations on the definition of a "community" safety-net designation of certain hospitals. 
11. Make recommendations on the establishment of a regional partnership to bring additional specialty services to communities. 
12. Review and make recommendations to address equity and healthcare transformation. 
13. Review and make recommendations to address housing barriers for Medicaid customers, providers, and developers