In July, the California and New Jersey legislatures each approved provision of the National DPP as a covered benefit for their Medicaid populations. To support all states that are seeking to gain such public or private coverage of the National DPP, NACDD and Leavitt Partners developed a new, online resource with coordination and funding from CDC’s Division of Diabetes Translation.

The National DPP Coverage Toolkit launched during an NACDD General Member webinar on June 22, 2017 with more than 300 attendees. By early July, the site had more than 1000 users. This online resource is part of a two-year demonstration project in Maryland and Oregon to test Medicaid coverage models for the National DPP.

“We are excited to release the National DPP Coverage Toolkit,” said Kelly McCracken, the NACDD consultant who oversees the project. “Our goal is to have this online toolkit serve as a resource for states that want to explore, move forward with, and sustain Medicaid coverage for the National DPP. It also provides information and resources for employers and commercial health plans investigating coverage of the National DPP.” View the launch webinar.

NACDD, in collaboration with Leavitt Partners, offers technical assistance to states on the use of the toolkit. Examples of opportunities for technical assistance include:

• Virtual Learning Collaborative – Arkansas, Illinois, Lousiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia
•  6|18 state technical assistance – the District of Columbia, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, and Utah
• Train the Trainertoolkit trainings – 4 states, to be announced soon
• Toolkit courseat NACDD’s Chronic Disease Academy in September 2017

Work progresses in the demonstration project states as they move into year two. All of Maryland Medicaid’s four participating managed care organizations and all three of Oregon Medicaid’s Coordinated Care Organizations enroll eligible Medicaid beneficiaries into both virtual and community-based lifestyle change programs. As of June 2017, Maryland had enrolled 225 participants and Oregon had enrolled 193 participants. Evaluation results from this demonstration will be available in the fall of 2018. Contact Kelly McCracken for more information on the National DPP Coverage Toolkit and the Medicaid demonstration project.