The Maryland Division of Well being (MDH) launched a request for proposals (RFP) this month for a non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) contractor for the state’s Medicaid inhabitants. MDH intends to award a single contract award for a most interval of seven years.
Get the most recent state-specific coverage intelligence for the well being care sector delivered to your inbox.
Advertisement
The contract will fulfill necessities beneath the Code of Federal Laws, which mandates that states present NEMT to Medicaid-covered providers as a final resort when the participant has no different technique of transport.
“The contractor is to guarantee entry to transportation for eligible and certified contributors to and from non-emergency Medicaid lined providers rendered by Medicaid suppliers in essentially the most price efficient and environment friendly clinically applicable transportation mode,” the RFP stated.
For the previous 2 many years, Maryland has administered NEMT by the native well being departments in every of its 23 counties (with the addition of Baltimore Metropolis), totaling 24 jurisdictions. MDH pays for NEMT providers by pass-through grants. Federal funding additionally helps the NEMT program, with a 50% match of state funds.
The RFP lists the development of transportation varieties this system would use, primarily based on sufferers’ medical wants. These embody a shared journey ambulatory car, shared ADA-accessible car, ambulance, interfacility switch for tertiary care, and air ambulance service transport.
Advertisement
Over 946,000 NEMT journeys occurred in fiscal yr 2019, in line with the RFP. MDH sometimes spends $50 million yearly on the NEMT program. The COVID-19 pandemic considerably impacted operation numbers (there have been about 814,000 journeys in FY 2020 and solely 104,000 journeys in FY 2021, principally because of the elevated use of telemedicine). Nevertheless, the RFP notes that restrictions on in-person medical appointments have been lifted since July 1st, 2021.
“Accordingly, for FY 2022 and past, it’s anticipated that transports will return to the pre-FY20 ranges,” the RFP stated.
The awarded contractor will work with MDH’s Medicaid Modular Transformation (MMT) Mission to design and develop the procedures and data know-how wanted to offer NEMT providers. Throughout the first part of the operations and upkeep (OM) stage, which is estimated to final a most of 18 months from the contract begin date, the contractor should inaugurate NEMT providers in not less than 9 of the 24 jurisdictions. Throughout the second part, overlaying the 6 months following the completion of the primary part, the contractor should onboard the remaining jurisdictions.
The NEMT contract can be a part of the Maryland Medicaid Enterprise Programs Modular Transformation (MMT) Program Administration Workplace (PMO), which works to revamp and modernize Maryland’s Medicaid Administration Data system (MMIS). MMT PMO is a multi-year mission anticipated to be totally applied in 2029.
“To efficiently administer the NEMT … the Contractor should seamlessly combine with the legacy MMIS,” the RFP stated. “To make sure that NEMT elements are correctly accounted for in MMT, the Contractor will need to have continuous illustration on MMT workgroups, steering committees, and many others. And because the MMIS transitions beneath MMT, the Contractor should, in lockstep, transition its interfaces and connectivity.”
A pre-proposal convention is scheduled for Sept. fifteenth at 1 p. Jap Time. Members should register by way of Attachment A of the RFP. Questions in regards to the RFP could also be despatched by the Non-Emergency Medical Transportation RFP Inquiry Kind.
Advertisement
Proposals are due on Nov. 1st at 4 pm Jap Time by way of the eMaryland Market Benefit (eMMA). The contract is anticipated to start on Feb. 1st, 2023.
Proud Montgomery County, MD resident Gavriella Kaufmann (Potomac) won her episode of FOX’s game show “Name that Tune”, which aired last week.
Kaufmann, who was born and raised in Potomac and graduated from Churchill High School in 2015, stated in an interview with FOX 5, that she has always been into music and referred to herself as a music and game show savant. When she saw an ad on LinkedIn about being on season 4 of the game show, she immediately knew she had to do it.
“I’ve loved game shows for as long as I can remember, and music has always been a huge part of my life. Being on Name That Tune was the perfect combination of both passions—it was like a dream come true.” Kaufmann told us.
The episode had a happy ending, with Kaufmann winning a whopping $85,000! She added, “When I was on Name That Tune, I was so focused on doing my best and naming as many songs as possible that I completely lost track of the score. It wasn’t until Jane, the host, told me my total. I was in complete shock, but it was such an incredible moment!”
Who’s ready for Big Ten play to begin? In all honesty, I am not. I really wish Michigan State football had more tune-up games after seeing them struggle against Florida Atlantic and only win 16-10. But unfortunately, that is not how the schedule unfolds for Michigan State this season.
The Spartans will hit the road for an early Big Ten game as they face Maryland on Saturday at 3:30 pm. Going into the season I thought Michigan State and the Terps were on a pretty level playing field, but after seeing both teams play week one that doesn’t appear to be the case.
And Vegas agrees.
Michigan State opens as a 7.5-point underdog next week at Maryland. My guess is that grows to 8, 8.5.
As you all know, Michigan State only beat Florida Atlantic by six and did not look very impressive, especially on the offensive side of the ball. So it’s no surprise that MSU will be the underdog next week. But 7.5 points feels like a lot, and according to the Lansing State Journal’s Graham Couch, it likely will only go up from there.
So does Vegas have it right or are they underrating Michigan State?
Looking at Maryland’s week one game against UConn it appears Vegas has this line right. The Terps were up 23-0 at halftime and never looked back and went on to win in dominant fashion 50-7. UConn and FAU are very similar in terms of what level they’re at in college football, so that drastic of a difference in the final score is very scary.
So Vegas probably could’ve gotten away with Maryland being even bigger favorites in this one.
But maybe Vegas saw what I did and thinks a lot of Michigan State’s mistakes on Friday are easy to fix. Maybe they think Aidan Chiles will be much better next week. The Spartan’s defense was also fairly dominant so there isn’t much of a chance Maryland scores 50 points next week either.
Advertisement
I tend to not bet on Michigan State games, but even if I did this would be a line that I would avoid because who knows how much Jonathan Smith’s squad will improve by next week, and who knows how much Maryland might struggle against a Power Four opponent.
The University of Maryland on Sunday reversed its decision to allow an anti-Israel protest on the first anniversary of the October 7 Massacre, following backlash from local Jewish groups.
UMD Students for Justice in Palestine and UMD Jewish Voice for Peace had been set to hold their October 7 vigil for Gazans killed in the Israel-Hamas War at the campus’s Mckeldin Mall, but the University System of Maryland (USM) said in a statement that on the day of the Hamas-led pogrom it would limit campus events requiring permits or approval to those supporting “a university-sponsored Day of Dialogue.”
Advertisement
“From the beginning of the war, we have come together as a University System to urge that we use this moment to encourage conversation, compassion, and civility; to engage with one another across our differences and draw on our shared humanity and our shared values to bridge what divides us,” said USM. “These dialogues aren’t new. Many of our universities have been hosting this kind of programming for several months. Reserving Oct. 7 gives us a chance to continue these urgent conversations and to mark this solemn anniversary in a way that gives students—all students—the time and space to share and to be heard.”
USM said that its intent was not to infringe of the free expression and speech of students, but to be sensitive to the needs of students as October 7 was a “day of enormous suffering and grief for many in our campus communities.”
UMD Jewish Student Union, Maryland Hillel, Terps for Israel, and Israeli American Council Mishelanu at Maryland welcomed the USM decision and thanked UMD leadership in a joint social media statement on Sunday.
Advertisement
The campus of the University of Maryland in College Park. (credit: Courtesy)
“October 7, the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, is a day of mourning for the Jewish and Israeli community,” said the UMD JSU. “We are relieved that SJP will no longer to be able to appropriate the suffering of our family and friends to fit their false and dangerous narrative.”
The Jewish groups said that it was distraught that the decision to only hold university-sponsored event had to be made at all, and wished to used the campus space to “grieve together as a community” to promote unity at the university. The unideal situation was necessary, according to the Jewish groups, to ensure the physical and psychological safety of students on the day of mourning.
Advertisement
UMD JVP and SJP attacked the decision to cancel the event, claiming that the vigil for Palestinians killed since the October 7 Massacre was attacked without familiarity of the content. The anti-Israel groups said that the discourse was “the continuation inherently racist, Islamophobic, and dehumanizing rhetoric surrounding Palestinians.” JVP and SJP said that the actions against their event were an attempt to paint “Muslim, Arab, and anti-Zionist Jewish students as barbaric.”
The anti-Israel groups asserted that their vigil for Palestinians who died in the war was no threat to the campus’s Jewish community, but conflation of Zionism and Judaism did threaten UMD and the Jewish community.
“To claim that Palestinians cannot hold a day of remembrance in mourning one year of genocide, or lay claim to that date is an insult to every life lost in the Zionist entity’s genocidal campaign,” UMD SJP and JVP said on Instagram on Sunday. “The disproportionate scale of suffering experienced by the Palestinians over the past year necessitates their remembrance and our solidarity on this day. The suffering of all innocents killed must not be monopolized and necessitates a fair and just representation.”
Advertisement
Stay updated with the latest news!
Subscribe to The Jerusalem Post Newsletter
SJP and JVP demanded the right to organize and exercise their right to free speech, accusing Zionists of attempting to stifle Palestinian voices.
Advertisement
The organizations indicated on their Sunday Instagram post that they still planned to hold their all-day event at Mckeldin Mall, and on Monday a link to register still active and listing the campus building as the rally location.
UMD Jewish groups said that they would be holding their own event to memorialize the victims of the October 7 pogrom at the Maryland Hillel.
