At the Quality Institute, we work together with you, our members and partners, to strengthen health care quality and access. Today I want to reflect on several recent successes that advance our mission and show how our work together creates impact and improves lives.
Access to contraceptives at local pharmacies
For years, we’ve called for easier access to contraceptive care. As part of our work, we joined with partners around the state through our New Jersey Reproductive Health Access Project to provide resources to providers. We also called for the rollout of regulations and new Medicaid rules to enable New Jersey pharmacists to dispense self-administered methods of birth control (e.g. pills, patches, rings) without a provider prescription. Now, after a new law and new rules, pharmacists can dispense this care.
Pharmacists are required to complete a brief training program as part of the protocol jointly adopted by the New Jersey Board of Pharmacy and the State Board of Medical Examiners. New Jersey’s Medicaid Fee-for-Service program will now reimburse pharmacists $20.66 for this service. To encourage more pharmacists to obtain the training, we want to see the compensation expanded to Medicaid managed care organizations as well. We need many more pharmacists to sign up. But, for now, let’s celebrate this step forward in access to reproductive health care.
Many More Licensed Clinical Social Workers Can Now Independently See Patients and Bill Medicaid, Expanding Access
In a fall 2023 op-ed, we called on the State to allow Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs), licensed professional counselors (LPCs), and licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) to be independently credentialed and allowed to bill Medicaid for the mental health services they provide outside licensed clinical facilities. We heard from LCSWs who told us that the regulatory structure limited their ability to treat people covered by Medicaid, an unnecessary barrier at a time when the State needs to expand, not limit, access to mental health services.
NJ FamilyCare made the change, effective July 1, and now LCSWs can enroll as billing providers, a change that will expand access to critically needed community-based mental health services. We look forward to seeing the same change made for LPCs and LMFTs, which we hope to see this fall.
Integrated Early Child Pediatric Care: In policy papers as well as opinion essays, we have strongly made the case for integrating physical health and mental health while also addressing social needs. This is the gold standard of care. Our involvement in HealthySteps shows us that this innovative model succeeds in improving care for children. HealthySteps specialists, who are experts in child development and behavior, are embedded into pediatric practices. They can identify whether children are reaching developmental milestones, help connect families to community services, and answer families’ questions about child development and well-being. New Jersey’s FY 25 budget includes funds for HealthySteps sites, ensuring this innovative model of care will continue helping New Jersey children and their families. Supporting children early in their lives provides a lifetime of benefits.
Creating policy change is difficult. At the Quality Institute, we bring people together to work toward solutions, a strategy foundational to our organization. Please join me in pausing, even for a moment, to celebrate these wins for New Jersey residents.