The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has released the reprocurement RFP for STAR+PLUS, the state’s Medicaid managed care program integrating the delivery of Acute Care Services and Long-Term Services and Supports. The program provides health coverage to low-income adults with disabilities or who are 65 years or older.
Current STAR+PLUS incumbent providers are Amerigroup/Anthem, Cigna, Centene, Molina, and UnitedHealthcare, serving more than 540,000 beneficiaries statewide by offering home and community-based services under a managed care model. See which health plans are currently providing STAR+PLUS in each county here.
Below are the number of contracts up for bid in each of Texas’s 13 STAR+PLUS services areas:
- Harris – 3 contracts up for bid
- Hidalgo – 3
- Dallas – 3
- Bexar – 3
- Northeast Texas – 2
- Tarrant – 2
- West Texas – 2
- Central Texas – 2
- Travis – 2
- El Paso – 2
- Nueces – 2
- Jefferson – 2
- Lubbock – 2
HHSC will require managed care organizations (MCOs) submitting proposals for STAR+PLUS to also submit a Notice of Intent to Apply for a Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) contract to CMS by November 2022. The cumulative annual compensation for all contracted STAR+PLUS health plans totaled $10.3 billion under contracts in previous cycles.
The timeline for STAR+PLUS MCO procurement is as follows:
- RFP Posting: March 2022
- Estimated Notice of Intent to Award: Q2 FY2023
- Start of Operations: Q1 FY2024
The deadline to submit proposals is June 2, 2022, after which the division of Procurement and Contracting Services will review bids and award six-year contracts to licensed MCOs and assign them services areas.