More states are receiving approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to extend Medicaid benefits to people transitioning out of prison. The Washington Health Care Authority (HCA) is inviting the state’s correctional facilities to join the Reentry Demonstration Initiative, a new voluntary initiative under the Medicaid Transformation Project.
In January 2023, California became the first state in the country to receive approval to provide a suite of pre-release health care services and improve access to care for people returning home from jails and prisons. In another example, Massachusetts MassHealth has been given federal authority to cover a broad range of health services for eligible incarcerated individuals, including youth in Department of Youth Services (DYS) facilities, up to 90 days before release.
Washington State Initiative Provides Essential Pre-Release Services for People Leaving Prison, Including Care Management, Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Support, and Fighting Infectious Diseases . These services are now reimbursable through Medicaid, providing an important opportunity for facilities to improve the care provided to incarcerated individuals prior to their release, according to the HCA.
HCA was authorized to distribute up to $303 million in capacity-building funds to eligible prison facilities.
“This nationally leading effort will include essential services such as treatment for people with opioid use disorder and hepatitis C,” Jason McGill, deputy director of Medicaid programs at HCA, said in a statement. “We are excited about the opportunity to improve health outcomes for people returning to their community from a prison environment. “We greatly appreciate the partnership with city and county leaders and facilities across our state.”
Facilities eligible to participate include state prisons, city and county jails, tribal jails, and youth correctional facilities. The first cohort, the first group of correctional facilities to implement the Reentry Initiative, will launch on July 1, 2025.
As the HCA explains, the initiative aims to:
• Improve health outcomes and reduce recidivism (recidivism), emergency department visits, overdoses, and death.
• Support care management and treatment and recovery for substance use disorders and address infectious diseases such as hepatitis C prior to an individual’s release.
• Stabilize and treat other conditions prior to a person’s release, so they can return to their community as healthy as possible.
