This information regards Act 775 (Provider Led Organized Care). If you haven’t read that, please do.

Deadlines are approaching with the formation of the PASSEs. The letter of intent deadline was extended to June 15, but many want your commitment by June 1. That being said, some of you still have questions.

First of all, will you be affected? You may or may not serve Tier 2 and/or Tier 3 patients of the BH and/or DDS populations. If you don’t, this may not affect you. However, if you want to keep your options open to serve them in the future, you probably need to at least participate in PASSEs. In the DD population, a Tier 1 patient can become a Tier 2 or 3 simply by being accepted into the Waiver program, but as you know, with the long waiting list, they could continue to receive services from their current providers. If you aren’t participating, that person will have to find another provider.

How many PASSEs are there? Why does this seem so secretive? Well, there are at least 4 forming. One PASSE has been pretty public, has released some plans, and were involved in passing the law.  They have held one public meeting. Others have formed and are trying to meet the regulations by June 15. These are common business practices, and some can’t release info until legalities are finalized. I hope to see public meetings from the others soon. It’s a pretty competitive situation right now, so a lot of information is not public. Each PASSE will try to convince you as to why you should invest with them. They are competing since there are only so many partners and investors available. There is a time limit for them, but you still have a little time to make a good investment decision. However, if you report to a board, you probably want to get them info as soon as possible.

Why should you invest? Part of the rules are that each PASSE must collect a savings/investment fund by December 2017 to be able to assume risk of managing funds for Tiers 2 and 3 of DDS and BHS. So that’s one reason each PASSE needs investors to give them money. Investors in a PASSE take on the risk together but also share in the rewards if money is saved. If each PASSE does not raise enough money and show a diverse group of partners to serve each need around the state, they will not pass certification. That’s why it’s pretty competitive to get you to invest with them and only them.

How are investment and participation different? As I understand it, participation requires nomoney from you. You can officially participate with any or all PASSEs once they’re certified to take on clients in order to be “in network” for the people they manage Medicaid funds for.

Any other important info? Each affected client will be attributed to one PASSE once he/she has received the Independent Assessment. The patient or caregiver will have 90 days to change to another PASSE. As said before, if you’re not a participant in that PASSE, you may lose the client. The Independent Assessment will determine what services are medically necessary for each patient, so you might expect some changes there. A lot of details have yet to be worked out.

Where can you get details about each PASSE? If you want to invest or hear more from each PASSE, just send me your email address, and I’ll send it to them. They will send the info they’re allowed to share.