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NASHVILLE — TennCare officials announced today the launch of the TennCare CHOICES in Long-Term Care program in East and West Tennessee, completing the statewide restructuring of long-term care service delivery within TennCare. The CHOICES program offers more home-based options for meeting the long-term care needs of the state’s elderly and adults with physical disabilities, reducing reliance on more costly nursing facility care. It also offers a simpler process for accessing these more economical services.

NASHVILLE — State officials announced today that Delta Dental was awarded the contract to serve as TennCare’s dental benefits manager (DBM). The new contract will save the state an estimated $3.5 million in administrative costs over the three-year contract period.

NASHVILLE - TennCare announced today that federal officials have approved Tennessee’s proposal to draw federal matching dollars in association with a new hospital assessment fee. As a result, TennCare will avoid benefit changes for enrollees and reductions in provider reimbursement rates that would have otherwise been required this year. The assessment fee was approved by the General Assembly in May.

NASHVILLE – TennCare Director and Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration, Darin Gordon, was selected to participate as a Fellow in the 2011 class of the Medicaid Leadership Institute, a national initiative managed by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS). Gordon is one of six Medicaid directors chosen to be part of this initiative designed to enhance the leadership capacity of Medicaid directors to help their programs serve as national models for high-quality, cost-effective care.

NASHVILLE – An incorrect electronic file submission sent to TennCare’s system caused information for some enrollees to be sent to incorrect addresses statewide. Approximately 3,900 enrollees were affected when letters and cards that contained one or more pieces of personal information were sent to incorrect addresses. The error was the result of a modification to the system that pulls addresses into an electronic file for TennCare. An error caused by the system modification corrupted the file.

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee Association of Mental Health Organizations (TAMHO) recently presented TennCare staff with the President’s Award, which is given at the discretion of the TAMHO President, during the TAMHO 2009 Annual Awards and Recognition Ceremony in Nashville, Tenn.

NASHVILLE — The Bureau of TennCare today announced the results of the 2009 HEDIS/CAHPS Report: A Comparative Analysis of Audited Results from TennCare Managed Care Organizations (MCOs). The report shows that TennCare’s Middle Tennessee MCOs performed above – and in many cases significantly exceeded – the 2008 national Medicaid average for measures related to behavioral health as well as drug and alcohol dependence treatment.