Officials with Connections Area Agency on Agency in Council Bluffs say the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service has awarded the Iowa Department of Human Services, funding to develop a State- and supporting a new payment and health care- delivery model.  Plans must improve health, improve health care, and lower costs for citizens through a sustainable model of multi-payor payment and delivery reform, and must be dedicated to delivering the right care at the right time in the right setting.

Even though Iowa has been ranked in the top five for quality and effective health care, the SIM grant will help further improve the quality of care provided to patients while encouraging personal health and wellbeing along with insuring an adequate workforce to deliver needed services.  This plan will take place over the next three years. Additionally, the Department is working on the new Iowa Health and Wellness Plan that addresses the health care needs of Iowans with incomes up to and including 133 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) that are not otherwise covered by Medicaid. This new coverage group will start receiving benefits January 1, 2014.

As part of the process for SIM and the new Iowa Health and Wellness Plan, community forums will be held to discuss the grant opportunity and ask for local input. Connections Area Agency on Aging will host a community forum on Tuesday, August 27^th 2013, from 1 to 3 pm at Iowa Western Community College, 2700 College Road in Council Bluffs, Student Life Center, Reiver Room.

Speakers at the event include Iowa Medicaid Director Jennifer Vermeer and Iowa Department of Human Services Director Chuck Palmer. Connections encourages participation from all counties in their service area including Adair, Adams, Cass, Cherokee, Clarke, Decatur, Fremont, Harrison, Ida, Mills, Montgomery, Monona, Page, Plymouth, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, Taylor, Union, and Woodbury counties.   For more information call Kelly Butts at 328-2540 ext. 1013 or 1-800-432-9209 ext. 1013