ICOY receives grant from the Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County for Medicaid Technical Assistance Center

Chicago, IL (June 18, 2019) – Illinois Collaboration on Youth (ICOY) is pleased to announce it has received a $25,000 grant from the Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County (HFNLC). These funds will support the establishment of ICOY’s new Medicaid Technical Assistance Center (MTAC), which seeks to support all Illinois human service providers to thrive in a Medicaid managed care (MMC) billing environment.

The MTAC program started as a result of ICOY hearing human service providers’ concerns around billing MMC, which is a major change to how providers bill Medicaid – from directly through the State to through designated insurance companies called Managed Care Organizations (MCOs). Due to the complexity and speed of the transition, many providers do not have the resources to efficiently bill Medicaid (if they are able to at all). Notably, ICOY’s recent Medicaid billing readiness survey of Illinois’ providers showed that the majority of providers (60%) do not bill MMC, and smaller providers and providers serving predominantly communities of color are the least prepared to bill MMC. Through the creation of Illinois’ first MTAC, ICOY plans to ease the burden of Medicaid billing for providers at all readiness levels so they can better serve their communities. HFNLC’s generous financial support will help advance this mission.

“We are thrilled to partner with HFNLC and improve behavioral healthcare access in northern Lake County and across the state of Illinois,” said ICOY CEO Andrea Durbin. “HFNLC is a long-time trusted stakeholder in northern Lake County and shares ICOY’s vision of improving behavioral healthcare access. I am excited to create a key partnership with their expertise of the community.”

HFNLC is committed to improving access to health service for underserved northern Lake County, Illinois, residents. They awarded funding to ICOY to build out the necessary trainings, learning collaboratives, and resources of the MTAC.

About MTAC:

The ICOY Medicaid Technical Assistance Center (MTAC) is launching in 2019 to help all Illinois providers thrive in a Medicaid Managed Care billing environment. We plan to ease the burden of Medicaid billing for providers at all readiness levels – this includes those organizations that have never billed Medicaid.

About the Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County:

The Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County supports efforts that improve access to health services for underserved Lake County, Illinois, residents. We strive to improve the health status of uninsured, underinsured, and medically underserved residents. We are especially interested in addressing gaps in health services; increasing the capacity of effective organizations and programs; and fostering innovative solutions to persistent healthcare access problems.