Certified Application Counselor Training on Indian-specific Provisions in the Marketplace

December 11, 2013

This Webinar was originally presented on December 11, 2013. Since that time, there have been several changes including:

  1. The Contract Health Service (CHS) program was re-named Purchased/Referred Care (PRC).
  2. CMS has established a policy that people in Group 1 who use the Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for Indians can include other members of their families in Groups 2 and 3 in the SEP.
  3. People in Group 2 can claim the Indian Health Service beneficiary hardship exemption on their tax form 8965 without first applying for an Exemption Certificate Number (ECN) from the Marketplace.

In the past year, CMS has improved the Federally-Facilitate Marketplace (FFM) on-line application (including the list of Tribes), Indian-specific information on the CMS website is more accurate and helpful, and there has been additional Call Center staff training and scripts.

Presenters:

Presenter: Mim Dixon

Mim Dixon has worked with Tribes as a policy analyst, researcher, facilitator, planner and health care administrator. She earned her BA in economics from Washington University (St. Louis, MO) and her MA and Ph.D. in anthropology from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL). She lived in Alaska for more than 20 years where she administered a Tribally-operated health clinic that served Fairbanks and 42 villages in Interior Alaska. After moving to Colorado in 1993, she worked for the National Indian Health Board as a policy analyst and researcher, travelling throughout the United States listening to issues important to Tribes. She served as health director for the Cherokee Nation in 2000. She is the author, co-author and/or editor of four books including “Strategies for Cultural Competency in Indian Health Care” with Pamela E. Iron, and “Promises to Keep: Public Health Policy for American Indians & Alaska Natives in the 21st Century” with Dr. Yvette Roubideaux.

Dr. Dixon has served as Technical Advisor to the Tribal Self-Governance Advisory Committee (TSGAC) and the Tribal Technical Advisory Group (TTAG) for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). She has been the project coordinator for the Tribal Education and Outreach Consortium (TEOC) and the Affordable Care Act training program, TEOC U. She is an active participant in the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) Medicaid and Medicare Policy Committee (MMPC). She was the author of the first CMS American Indian and Alaska Native Strategic Plan, as well as the most recent revision of that plan.

Moderator: Cyndi Ferguson

Cyndi Ferguson joined SENSE Incorporated on in March 2010 as a Self-Governance Specialist/Policy Advisor. Having previously worked for over 20 years as the Self-Governance Coordinator and Director of Governmental Affairs for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe in Washington State, Cyndi has extensive experience, including: management and implementation of Tribal Self Governance in the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) programs; negotiation of Self-Governance Funding Agreements with Federal agencies; internal Tribal governance planning; preparation of Tribal annual fiscal budgets and management reports to Tribal Council; and participation on Tribal Team to develop several major legislative initiatives, including amendments to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (Title IV, Title V and Title VI). Further, Cyndi has worked to advance State-Tribal Relations promoting intergovernmental cooperation between States and Tribes in order to develop policy solutions on issues of mutual concern. Cyndi has been a lead presenter on national and regional Tribal Self-Governance Trainings. She has been an active, long-term participant on several Tribal/Federal Workgroups and currently serves as Facilitator for the National Indian Health Board-Medicare and Medicaid Policy Committee (MMPC).

Resources:

Click Here for the PowerPoint presentation shown during this webinar (Updated 1/6/2015)

Click here “Groups of People Tribes May Assist with Enrollment” (the one-page chart). (Updated 1/6/2015)