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Missouri Application for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program Effective Date: 05/01/2009 Approval Date:

Prior Approval Date: 09/28/2007 - 41 - Response: To ensure public involvement in the design and implementation of SCHIP 1 and SCHIP 2, the MO HealthNet Division considers suggestions made to the Missouri General Assembly. The Missouri General Assembly holds a series of public hearings in conjunction with the approval of the annual budget for Missouri and as they consider changes in state law. In addition, to ensure public involvement in SCHIP 1 and SCHIP 2, the Quality Assessment and Improvement Advisory (QA&I) Group, a partnership of representatives for the major stakeholders in the Missouri MO HealthNet Managed Care Program, collaborates for the purpose of:  Ensuring that high-quality care is provided to MO HealthNet managed care members enrolled in MO HealthNet managed care and helping MO HealthNet be accountable to the public and MO HealthNet managed care members;  Adopting appropriate broad measurable population-based quality indicators, including measures of access, utilization, structure, process, outcomes, member satisfaction, and risk behaviors;  Interpreting quality data prioritizing areas for improvement, and recommending improvement activities;  Monitoring the care provided to this group of MO HealthNet managed care members for serious variances from high quality processes and outcomes;  Fostering, supporting, and enhancing the quality improvement programs of individual MCOs and provider groups;  Providing a forum where quality concerns of the MO HealthNet Division, other state agencies, MCOs, providers, and MO HealthNet managed care members can be communicated, thus forming a public-private partnership dedicated to improving the health of MO HealthNet managed care members. The QA&I meetings are open to members of the public. Meeting discussions are open to group members, MO HealthNet personnel, and invited guests. The meeting agenda includes an open forum in which input from the public is solicited for discussion, comment, and review. QA&I meetings are scheduled one year in advance and held quarterly. Meeting notices are posted at the State Capitol, the Broadway Building, the DSS offices at the Howerton Building, and the Jefferson Building, and on the MO HealthNet website at http://www.dss.mo.gov/mhd/. On an ongoing basis the QA&I Advisory Group will advise the MO HealthNet Division regarding health policy that: improves the health status of MO HealthNet clients, maintains or reduces the cost of health care while maintaining or improving quality of care, and describes best practices