LEGISLATION IMPROVES ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE AND REMOVES BARRIERS

Samantha Olds Frey is CEO of Illinois Association of Medicaid Health Plans. PHOTO PROVIDED BY GEMINI GROUP
Samantha Olds Frey is CEO of Illinois Association of Medicaid Health Plans. PHOTO PROVIDED BY GEMINI GROUP

 Legislation improves access to healthcare and removes barriers

BY TIA CAROL JONES

Samantha Olds Frey, CEO of the Illinois Association
of Medicaid Health Plans, talked about the Telehealth
package that was passed in Illinois last year. The legislation
was a culmination of things learned from the pandemic
and public health emergency to ensure people have
coverage for telehealth, on the commercial side and on the
Medicaid side. Now, there is a focus to define what types
of professions can provide telehealth.

Before the pandemic, Illinois Medicaid had a restrictive
telehealth benefit, especially regarding mental health.
It was expanded during the pandemic. IAMHP anticipates
some changes to areas of the telehealth legislation, more
on the operational side. Those changes include having
safe and secure HIPAA compliant telehealth platforms.
For things like physical therapy and speech therapy, telehealth
was done during the height of the pandemic, but it
isn’t the best way to provide services. Healthcare providers
have found safe ways to transition patients back to a
physical setting.

Medicaid is the largest payer of maternal health and
mental health. The hope is that with support of HB5053
and SB3962, access to healthcare will improve outcomes
and address disparities in Black and Latino communities.
With the legislation in regard, it addresses challenges of
someone in need of inpatient services for mental health
treatment or substance use disorder treatment not being
able to find a location. The bill will allow and require bed
availability to be posted and updated on a website each
day.

“It is critical because just like you and I wouldn’t call
or try to make a reservation at a hotel that says they have
no vacancies … this is the same for inpatient substance
use disorder or mental health treatment. It allows you
to focus your resources where there’s availability,” Frey
said.

This legislation also is building upon the Illinois Doc
Assist program, which allows Primary Care Physicians to
call on another doctor to get help when they have resource
challenges. The legislation would expand the program
beyond Primary Care Physicians to doctors and clinicians
within substance use disorder and mental health providers,
so they can get assistance. It allows every health
care provider to get assistance and enables them to practice
at the top of their license.

“We want to make sure that patients with mental health
and substance use disorder needs are treated in a comprehensive
manner. Because, when they’re not treated in a comprehensive
manner, we see adverse outcomes, like overdoses,”
Frey said. “So, the more we can support our community-
based providers to make sure they’re connecting members
to care, to support them in treating members, we believe we
will see improved outcomes and a decrease in overdoses.”

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