The Health Care Authority (HCA) invites Washington State’s carceral (incarceration) facilities to participate in the Reentry Demonstration Initiative. This initiative is a new voluntary Apple Health (Medicaid) initiative under the Medicaid Transformation Project (MTP).
We invite state prisons, city and county jails, Tribal jails, and youth correctional facilities to participate in the Reentry Initiative.
Why should carceral facilities participate?
By participating, facilities can help improve the health and well-being of incarcerated individuals (before their release) and communities by:
- Improving health outcomes and reducing recidivism (re-offense), emergency department visits, overdoses, and death.
- Supporting care management and substance use disorder treatment and recovery and targeting infectious diseases like hepatitis C before a person’s release.
- Stabilizing and treating other conditions before a person’s release, so they can reenter their community as healthy as possible.
Which carceral facilities are eligible to participate?
Eligible facilities include:
- State prisons operated by the Department of Corrections (DOC)
- City- and county-operated adult jails and youth correctional facilities
- Youth correctional facilities operated by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF)
- Tribal jails
What’s the Reentry Initiative about?
This initiative provides essential, pre-release services for individuals leaving incarceration. Incarcerated individuals who are eligible for Apple Health coverage will receive a set of services up to 90 days before their release. These services are now reimbursable through Medicaid. Prior to this initiative, Medicaid could not cover and pay for services while a person was incarcerated. Learn more about pre-release services (see the “What’s included in the initiative?” section).
What resources are available to participating facilities?
The Health Care Authority (HCA) is authorized to provide a substantial amount of capacity building funding to help carceral facilities meet the requirements and support implementation of the initiative. Learn more.
What’s next if a facility is interested?
Interested facilities must complete the Intent to Participate form (Word document) and submit it to HCAReentryDemonstrationProject@hca.wa.gov. The form confirms their commitment and intent to participate in the Reentry Initiative. It also completes Milestone 1, which initiates funding.
Facilities choose when they want to participate. The initiative will start at different times for participating facilities, depending on facility readiness. The first cohort—the first group of carceral facilities to implement the initiative—launches July 1, 2025.
If a facility wants to start receiving Medicaid reimbursement on July 1, 2025, HCA should receive a facility’s Intent to Participate by June 1, 2024. Funding will then be made available in July.
Where can I find more information?
Contact
Reach out to our team at HCAReentryDemonstrationProject@hca.wa.gov.
