This webinar will highlight the potential for using the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion to engage justice agencies in stronger partnerships that will enroll patients into health insurance programs, share data with other providers, and facilitate better coordinated care for those entering and leaving detention. In states where health reform is aggressively implemented, reductions in recidivism may also be possible, especially for those with behavioral health diagnoses. Under the ACA, those who are incarcerated “pending disposition of charges” and those released from corrections are eligible for Medicaid. This creates opportunities for greater continuity of care across service systems for a vulnerable (and costly) population. The webinar will highlight justice administrators’ wide range of concerns given their current environment and the likely actions these stakeholders will take while focusing on a successful release planning partnership between the jail system and the HCH grantee in King County, Washington, as one model to provide comprehensive care and decrease incarceration.
Speakers:
- Barbara DiPietro, PhD; Director of Policy, National Health Care for Homeless Council; Baltimore
- Fred Osher, MD; Division Director—Behavioral Health, Council of State Governments Justice Center; Charleston, South Carolina
- Meagan Condon, MA, LMHC; Release Planning Manager, Public Health—Seattle & King County, King County Correctional Facility; Seattle
