Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans Site Visits.

Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans (SNPs) specialize in serving Medicare beneficiaries who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, are eligible to be in nursing facilities or other long-term-care institutions, or have chronic conditions. This report provides an early descriptive snapshot of how SNPs are developing in Boston, Phoenix, and Miami. The authors provide findings from site visits and describe why plans decided to become SNPs; outline plans’ outreach, marketing, network development, care coordination, and quality improvement strategies; discuss implementation challenges; and review suggestions for improvement. The authors also describe SNP relations with state Medicaid programs, including current or planned inclusion of Medicaid-funded services in the SNP benefit package.