P&P October 2015

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October 2015 Policy&Practice 7
See National Collaborative on page 34
program update
By Megan Lape
Over the past several months,
APHSA’s National Collaborative
for Integration of Health and Human
Services has been in full swing.
Formerly referred to as the National
Workgroup on Integration (or NWI),
the National Collaborative continues
to focus on the multi-dimensional
opportunities that will
enable state and local health
and human service agencies
to achieve the Generative
Level (see box, at right) or
desired operational “to-be”
state of public-sector
health and human service
coordinated service delivery.
We know this evolution takes
multiple and parallel efforts across
a variety of stakeholders to be suc-
cessful. As we continue to work toward
the Generative level throughout the
health and human service system, here
are some of our highlights over the past
couple of months:
A-87 Cost Allocation
Exception Extension and
Expanded Access to CALT
With assistance from APHSA’s
membership, including IT Solutions
Management for Human Services
(ISM), APHSA led a national two-
year effort to underscore to our
federal partners the critical neces-
sity of extending the Office of
Management and Budget’s Circular
A-87 Cost Allocation1 Exception
beyond the initial December 31,
2015 deadline. The deadline exten-
sion is a critical component in most
states’ modernization strategy to
move toward higher levels of service
integration while simultaneously
reducing costs to both federal and
state taxpayers.
What’s New with the National Collaborative?
In July 2015, the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services’ (HHS)
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services (CMS) and the Administration
for Children and Families (ACF), and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) Food and Nutrition Services
(FNS), formally announced the three-
year extension for the A-87
Exception to December 31,
2018. Also consistent with
APHSA’s recommendations,
HHS and USDA have made
the enhanced 90–10 federal
match for Medicaid eligibility
and enrollment systems
(E&E) and components
permanent, as well permitted access
by state human service programs
to CMS’ Collaborative Application
Lifecycle Tool (CALT) to further the
reuse and sharing of artifacts between
states working to modernize their
E&E systems across health and human
service programs.
State Data Exchange
Community of Excellence
(aka P3 CoE)
In August 2015, the Social Security
Administration’s (SSA) Office of Data
Exchange (ODX), under the Office of
Data Exchange and Policy Publications
(ODEPP), launched the State Data
Exchange Community of Excellence.
Members of this public–private part-
nership (P3) effort include federal
agencies such as HHS’ ACF and CMS
and USDA’s FNS; APHSA as the non-
profit member organization; and
public entities, including state health
and human service agencies. SSA will
evaluate the information gathered
and shared within the P3 CoE to better
understand states’ data needs and
to evaluate 21st century technology,
consider policy changes, leverage
federal funding, prioritize initia-
tives, and formulate plans to consider
changes to SSA data sharing to support
states’ (system) modernization efforts.
Based on discussions between SSA,
HHS, USDA, and APHSA’s National
For more information, visit the National
Collaborative’s page on the APHSA web
site,
The Generative Level of the Human
Services Value Curve is a term used
increasingly in the health and human
service field indicating the desired future
state of public-sector practice, policy, and
operations. With its genesis in the work
of Harvard’s Leadership for a Networked
World, APHSA’s Pathways framework,
and further defined through APHSA’s
Health & Human Services Integration
Maturity Model, the levels of the Human
Services Value Curve are defined as:
Regulative: Delivering services to
program participants for which they are
eligible while complying with categorical
policy and program regulations.
Integrative: Addressing and solving
the root causes of program participants’
needs and challenges by seamlessly
coordinating and integrating services.
Generative: Creating healthy and well
communities by working with others
outside of the H/HS enterprise to address
complex health and social challenges.
Collaborative: Ensuring the
appropriate mix of existing services for
program participants working across
agency and programmatic boundaries.