Policy & Practice June 2015

NWI HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION TOOLKITS

throughout their enterprise in such a way as to necessitate a more delibera- tive and expanded effort. Toward that end, the National Collaborative (NC) will:

assistance. To improve program partici- pant outcomes—through integrating health and human service infrastruc- tures, identifying federal barriers to integration, and developing effective strategies, policies, and practice models leading to an integrated enterprise—a comprehensive approach is essential. OUR JOURNEYTOTHE NATIONAL COLLABORATIVE In September 2011, APHSA convened the NWI—a workgroup comprised of human service and health care leaders in agencies at the state and local levels, industry sponsors, and representatives of the federal government to provide thought leadership and guidance on the transformation of health and human services. Over the next three years, NWI focused on identifying emerging issues enabling or presenting a barrier to horizontal integration; developed guidance and provided tools to assist jurisdictions to achieve interoperability and integration (see sidebar); gathered and disseminated best practices; and recommended changes to laws and regulations. NWI is now being reformulated from a workgroup into a collaborative. The rapidly growing trend of states and localities to move toward integrated service delivery models is a critical factor in their efforts going forward to effectively address the social deter- minants of health and improve the health and wellness outcomes of their program participants. As jurisdictions continue to mod- ernize how they operate the platforms that support this and increase their data-sharing efforts, their approach to service delivery is being transformed

localities choose to focus on improving will be aggregated so that multiple states and localities with similar goals can learn from each other by understanding and employing different approaches to achieve the same end. Expand APHSA’s National Repository of Innovative Practices to Include Exemplary Models of Horizontal Integration from Across the Country at the State and Local Levels Outstanding examples of organiza- tional horizontal integration will be captured within the repository that can be leveraged by others seeking to achieve demonstrable outcomes on behalf of their program partici- pants. This will include descriptions of leadership practices, governance, and qualitative measures organiza- tions have used to demonstrate their **NWI worked with its partners at CMS, ACF, and FNS to extend the enhanced federal funding opportunities for Medicaid eligibility and enrollment systems. It also engaged with the same federal partners and OMB to successfully extend the A-87 Cost Allocation waiver for an additional three years beyond its original sunset date to the end of CY 2018. > Business Model for Horizontal Integration of Health & Human Services (2012) > Governance Guidance for Horizontal Integration of Health & Human Services (2012) > Technology Guidance for Horizontal Integration of Health & Human Services (2012) > Health and Human Services Integration Maturity Model v1 & v2 (2013, 2015) > A-87 Exception Toolkit for Human Service Agencies (2014)** > Analytic Capability Roadmap 1.0 for Human Service Agencies (2014)

Continue to Broaden the Partnership Base

NC will build on these partnerships by adding new partners who bring addi- tional strengths to these multi-faceted challenges and represent other critical sectors of the health and human service continuum. Develop Program-Specific Toolkits The collective vision, tools, activities, and measurable benchmarks of success must be translated and customized to the various programs that comprise the human service enterprise. In the years ahead, the NC will fine-tune its vision and roadmaps for these programs and expand the scope of these activities to include assessing cross-program integra- tion in public health, child care, child welfare, housing, and behavioral health, among others. The National Health and Human Services Integration Institute will serve as the place for innovations and demonstrations to take place by bringing together state and local health and human service teams to learn, apply, and track an integration change initiative within their own orga- nization using customized technical expertise, undergirded with methods and tools from APHSA’s well-grounded Organizational Effectiveness (OE) practice and member-driven human service maturity model, yet specifically designed to meet the unique needs of each participating agency. Expand Utilization of the Self- Assessment Toolkit Over the next five years, the NC will increase the number of states and locali- ties making use of a self-assessment tool developed previously under the NWI to plot their relative position along a dozen key parameters according to one of four levels of organizational maturity. Key areas that individual states and Create the National Health and Human Services Integration Institute

Anita Light is the director of the National

Collaborative. You may reach her at alight@aphsa.org.

See Collaborative on page 38

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Policy&Practice June 2015