Page 16

reforms during the next fiscal year; (5) changes in federal laws that the department expects will result in a cost or savings to the state of more than $1,000,000; (6) a description of any medical assistance grants, options, or waivers the department applied for in the previous fiscal year; (7) the results of demonstration projects the department has implemented; (8) legal and technological barriers to the expanded use of telehealth, improvements in the use of telehealth in the state, and recommendations for changes or investments that would allow cost- effective expansion of telehealth; (9) the percentage decrease in costs of travel for medical assistance recipients compared to the previous fiscal year; (10) the percentage decrease in the number of medical assistance recipients identified as frequent users of emergency departments compared to the previous fiscal year; (11) the percentage increase or decrease in the number of hospital readmissions within 30 days after a hospital stay for medical assistance recipients compared to the previous fiscal year; (12) the percentage increase or decrease in state general fund spending for the average medical assistance recipient compared to the previous fiscal year; (13) the percentage increase or decrease in uncompensated care costs incurred by medical assistance providers compared to the percentage change in private health insurance premiums for individual and small group health insurance; (14) the cost, in state and federal funds, for providing optional services under AS 47.07.030(b); (15) the amount of state funds saved as a result of implementing changes in federal policy authorizing 100 percent federal funding for services provided to American Indian and Alaska Native individuals eligible for Medicaid, and the estimated savings in state funds that could have been achieved if the department had fully implemented the changes in policy. (e) In this section, “telehealth” means the practice of health care delivery, evaluation, diagnosis, consultation, or treatment, using the transfer of health care data through audio, visual, or data communications, performed over two or more locations between providers who are physically separated from the recipient or from each other or between a provider and a recipient who are physically separated from each other. Sec. 47.05.290. Definitions. In AS 47.05.200 — 47.05.290, (1) “benefit” has the meaning given in AS 11.81.900; (2) “claim” includes a request for payment for medical assistance services under applicable state or federal law or regulations, whether the request is in an electronic format or paper format or both;