DHH and New Orleans Officials Announce Planned Program Extension to Strengthen Primary and Behavioral Health Care Access in New Orleans Area

Application for revised Greater New Orleans Community Health Connection Waiver would allow program to continue through December 2014

Friday, August 23, 2013  |  Contact: Olivia Watkins; (225) 342-1463 or (225) 610-8660 (cell)

Baton Rouge, La. - Today, Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Kathy Kliebert, Louisiana Sen. David Heitmeier and New Orleans officials announced the planned extension of a program focused on advancing and sustaining access to health care services in the New Orleans area. The program, called the Greater New Orleans Community Health Connection (GNOCHC), is a Medicaid demonstration waiver that provides primary care and behavioral health care services to more than 60,000 individuals in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. 

The waiver was expected to expire Dec. 31, 2013, but revisions by DHH submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would allow the waiver to extend through 2014, giving local officials additional time to find funding needed to maintain the program for future years. 

"We know that local officials in New Orleans are dedicated to finding a long-term funding source for GNOCHC, and we worked with them to allow that opportunity by extending the life of the program at no additional cost to the state," said DHH Secretary Kathy Kliebert. "The program is tailored to the needs of this community and provides essential primary and behavioral health care services to thousands of regional residents. GNOCHC promotes the use of preventive and primary care, keeping people out of costly emergency room settings, and making it a great compliment to our efforts to strengthen the safety-net system through the transformation of the LSU hospital system."

"The extension of the GNOCHC program is a great example of coordination between state and local leaders to protect critical community services and offer health care to a population that needs it," said Sen. David Heitmeier, Chair of the Senate Health & Welfare Committee. "I am committed to ensuring that our citizens receive quality health care and am excited that we will be able to continue to provide these critical services to our most vulnerable population." 

"The continuation of this funding means that tens of thousands in our community will keep their access to quality, affordable neighborhood care in a model built by Louisiana, for Louisiana. This is a great example of community, local, state and federal partners working together to respond to the community's needs," said Dr. Karen DeSalvo, New Orleans Health Commissioner.

The GNOCHC began in October 2010 after the completion of the Primary Care Access Stabilization Grant, an initiative that was widely recognized as an effective initiative for increasing access to and participation in primary care for areas in Southern Louisiana heavily impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

A temporary, no-cost extension filed by DHH seeks to restructure the GNOCHC waiver in order to ensure that it may continue to operate through the end of 2014 using only the remaining funds available -- $6.1 million in previously authorized Community Development Block Grant funds. The revisions to the waiver include the following:

• Limiting enrollment to individuals with incomes below 100 percent of the federal poverty level, which will align the eligibility criteria so that individuals making more than 100 percent of the federal poverty level would access health coverage through the federal exchange;
• Reducing the primary encounter rate by less than 13 percent;
• Eliminating infrastructure payments to providers; and
• Decreasing supplemental payments scheduled to be made for the current program year and eliminating them for the next program year. 

DHH and New Orleans officials worked closely with providers to identify changes that would allow for the continuation of the waiver given the remaining Community Block Development Grant funds. These changes will allow New Orleans leadership to identify additional funding resources for future years.  

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) still need to review and approve the temporary waiver extension. GNOCHC currently has more than 60,000 enrollees with access to more than 40 clinic locations. 

Eligibility information is located here: http://bhsfweb.dhh.louisiana.gov/onlinemanualspublic/eligibility/mem/H-2600.pdf. A list of participating providers may be found here: http://www.lmmis.com/provweb1/GNOCHC/GNOCHC_clinic_flyer.pdf. Additional information regarding the GNOCHC waiver may be found here: http://www.lmmis.com/provweb1/GNOCHC/GNOCHC_Index.htm

Information on the program, application process and clinic locations may also be found here: http://nola.gov/gnochc

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