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Reentry from a carceral setting
The Reentry Demonstration Initiative (Reentry Initiative) is an Apple Health (Medicaid) initiative under the Medicaid Transformation Project (MTP 2.0). It provides essential, health care services for individuals leaving incarceration. Under this initiative, incarcerated individuals who are Apple Health-eligible will receive a set of services up to 90 days before their release. These services will ensure a person’s health and successful reentry to their community.
The Health Care Authority (HCA) is currently working with carceral (incarceration) facilities across the state that are interested in participating in this initiative. Interested facilities have the option to participate in one of three cohorts—groups of participating facilities—that will go live at different times.
- Cohort 1: Go live July 1, 2025
- Cohort 2: Go live January 1, 2026
- Cohort 3: Go live July 1, 2026
On this page
The latest version of the Reentry Initiative Policy and Operations Guide is now available!
How to participate
The Reentry Initiative Policy and Operations Guide (updated August 2026) outlines the process for participation and provides detailed instructions on how to implement the requirements of the Reentry Initiative. The key objectives of this guide are to establish clear policies, standardize procedures, promote coordination, ensure accountability, and support continuous improvement. This guide is for facilities, county behavioral health agencies, health care providers, community-based organizations (CBOs), local health jurisdictions, Accountable Communities of Health (ACHs), and managed care organizations (MCOs) that are interested in participating in the Reentry Initiative.
To participate, interested carceral facilities will move through five key milestones over the course of the program:
- Intent to Participate
- Capacity Building Application
- Readiness Assessment
- Interim Progress Report
- Final Progress Report
Go live
As of March 1, 2026, Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 facilities are live and providing Reentry Initiative services. HCA is inviting Cohort 3 facilities that go live July 1, 2026, to join a series of rapid response calls to discuss emerging issues that need immediate attention with implementation of the Reentry Initiative. Please see the Cohort 3 rapid response call schedule.
Third-party administrator
A third-party administrator (TPA) is an organization that provides administrative support and services on behalf of another entity. Community Health Partnership Services (CHPS), a division of Community Health Plan of Washington, will serve as the TPA for the Reentry Initiative. Participating facilities can use CHPS as a claims clearinghouse to assist with reentry services billing and claiming. CHPS is also available to provide facilities with technical and administrative assistance. Please see the CHPS website for more information.
Additional contact information:
- Claims/billing and provider enrollment
- Technical assistance
- Reentry Case Management
- Fair hearings
- Phone: 1-800-461-0305
- Milestone 1: Intent to Participate
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To show interest in and a commitment to participating in the Reentry Initiative, facilities were asked to submit an Intent to Participate form to HCA. The Milestone 1 deadline for all cohorts has passed. Once a facility submitted this form, a portion of the capacity building funding became available and they were able to move to the next milestones.
For additional information, please see the Initial requirements guidance document and the available resources section on this page.
- Milestone 2: Capacity Building Application (CBA)
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To complete Milestone 2, participating carceral facilities had to complete the Capacity Building Application - Attestations form and submit it to HCA. Each question in the form represents a program requirement that facilities must be able to fulfill in order to go live. For support and additional information, view the Introduction to the CBA. The Milestone 2 deadline for all cohorts has passed.
Additionally, the following sections of the capacity building funds budget template are a part of Milestone 2:
- Required: Capacity building funds budget (Planning & Implementation tab)
- Required: Complete the IT infrastructure budget (Option IT Infrastructure tab)
- Optional: List the providers who will use HCA’s free claims clearinghouse (Optional Provider List tab)
For more information about meeting the program requirements listed in the CBA - Attestations form, please see the learning series materials.
- Milestone 3: Readiness Assessment
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As part of Milestone 3, HCA will conduct a Readiness Assessment to ensure facilities are fully prepared to launch the Reentry Initiative by a facility's indicated go-live date. Facilities are required to attest to sets of questions and provide narrative responses to demonstrate how they will meet each of the program requirements listed in the CBA. Facilities must have their Readiness Assessment Form approved by HCA to go live and begin billing for Reentry Initiative services. The Milestone 3 deadline for all cohorts has passed.
Steps to complete Milestone 3:
- Required: Complete and sign the Readiness Assessment Form. (See the Readiness Assessment Background and Rubric for additional information about the elements of the form and the approval procedure.)
- Required: Complete the IT infrastructure budget in the capacity building funds budget template (Option IT Infrastructure tab)
- Milestone 4: Interim Progress Report
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There is no information available at this time.
- Milestone 5: Final Progress Report
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There is no information available at this time.
Available resources
- General materials
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- Reentry Initiative Policy and Operations Guide (updated August 2026)
- Reentry Initiative FAQs (updated July 2025)
- Reentry Initiative overview (April 2024)
- 3 ways a carceral facility can receive Medicaid funding infographic (October 2024)
- Authorization and information sharing consent from for reentry case management (January 2025)
- Reentry health screening form - Carceral facilities may use this form after an Apple Health (Medicaid) client is eligible and/or between 90 and 120 days prior to the client’s release to support the reentry health screening requirement.
- Reentry health assessment addendum - Carceral facilities can use this form in conjunction with the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) Intake Screening Form as part of a client’s health care assessment.
- Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and medications for alcohol use disorder (MAUD) in jails: Standard of care guidelines (updated August 2026) - This resource is a simplified reference that provides standard of care guidelines for jails and their clinicians to follow while treating an incarcerated individual with opioid use disorder (OUD) and/or alcohol use disorder (AUD).
- Reentry health care resources - Carceral facilities can share this handout with individuals as they leave incarceration, which provides detailed information about how to access Apple Health services for managed care clients or Apple Health clients without a managed care plan.
- Reimbursement for Naloxone in Carceral Settings - This resource is available to assist carceral facilities in understanding the distinction between dispensing and administering Naloxone, which is essential for determining appropriate reimbursement pathways.
- Learning series webinars
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Date Event Related materials January 8, 2025 Reentry Initiative provider enrollment January 15, 2025 Reentry Initiative MCO contracting and credentialing January 22, 2025 Reentry Initiative client eligibility and enrollment February 5, 2025 Reentry Initiative benefits (part 1) February 19, 2025 Reentry Initiative benefits (part 2) March 5, 2025 Reentry Initiative data exchange requirements March 12, 2025 Reentry Initiative Readiness Assessment March 19, 2025 Reentry Initiative Q&A June 25, 2025 Reentry Targeted Case Management (rTCM) July 9, 2025 Reentry Initiative: Associating servicing providers to a billing provider - Cohort office hour resources
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Date Event Related materials August 6, 2025 Reentry Initiative: Cohort 2 Readiness Assessment Office Hour July 16, 2025 Reentry Initiative Cohort 3 welcome webinar December 17, 2024 Reentry Initiative 101 November 21, 2024 Reentry Initiative cohort discussion - Webinar slide deck
October 15, 2024 Reentry Initiative cohort discussion September 23, 2024 Reentry Initiative cohort discussion July 23, 2024 Reentry Initiative cohort discussion May 13, 2024 Reentry Initiative virtual office hour April 2024 Reentry Initiative Q&A webinar - News
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CHPW named apparent successful bidder for Reentry Initiative (February 19, 2025)
HCA invites Washington carceral facilities to participate in MTP Reentry Initiative.
- Tribal jails invitation to participate — letter from Dr. Charissa Fotinos, HCA Medicaid and Behavioral Health Medical Director (January 2025)
- Carceral facilities invitation to participate — letter from Dr. Charissa Fotinos (April 2024)
- View press release
- View announcement
Sign up for general Reentry Initiative announcements. Participating facilities may contact the Reentry Initiative team to be included on more specific program-related communications about deadlines, available resources, and upcoming events.
Why is this initiative important?
Through this initiative, we aim to:
- Prepare people for a successful transition and reentry into their community and help them live their healthiest life.
- Improve health outcomes and reduce recidivism (re-offense), emergency department visits, overdoses, and death.
- Support substance use disorder and recovery and target infectious diseases like Hepatitis C before a person’s release.
- Stabilize and treat other conditions before a person’s release, so they can reenter their community as healthy as possible.
What services will the initiative provide?
This initiative will support and fund the delivery of targeted prerelease services to Apple Health-eligible adults and youth in state prisons, jails, and youth carceral facilities. HCA will require participating facilities to support the first three Reentry Initiative Benefit services below. The remaining four services are optional, and facilities may implement them individually.
- Reentry Targeted Case Management (rTCM)
- Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and medications for alcohol use disorder (MAUD)
- Reentry Pharmacy: 30-day supply of medications and medical supplies at release
- Medications during the prerelease period
- Lab and radiology
- Services by community health workers with lived experience
- Physical and behavioral clinical consultations
Additional information
- Background on reentry legislation and MTP
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- Senate Bill (SB) 6430 passed in 2016, which allowed HCA to suspend—and not terminate—Medicaid coverage for incarcerated individuals.
- In 2021, House Bill 1348 passed, which delays the suspension of an incarcerated person’s Medicaid coverage. SB 5304 also passed in 2021, which allowed HCA to seek federal funding to:
- Provide prerelease services to a person leaving a carceral setting.
- Maximize care coordination, so a person can transition into their community successfully and be connected to the care and services they need.
- MTP is Washington State's Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver, which is an agreement between the Health Care Authority (HCA) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
- In June 2023, CMS approved MTP to continue for an additional five years. The MTP renewal—called MTP 2.0—began July 1, 2023, and ends June 30, 2028.
- MTP (the waiver) is what allows our state to have the reentry program and provide certain Medicaid services up to 90 days before a person’s release.
- Impacts before reentry legislation
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Before 2017, people had to reapply for Apple Health (Medicaid) coverage after release (because their coverage was terminated and not suspended). That process took a while to show a person as eligible for Medicaid coverage, so—during their most vulnerable and at-risk time—released individuals could not:
- Receive necessary medications, equipment, or treatments.
- Access medical or health-related social needs services, such as:
- Scheduling an appointment with a health care provider or counselor.
- Securing housing, food, or transportation.
This delay created significant dangers for people with substance use disorder, serious mental illness, or other behavioral health need.
- HCA’s reentry workgroup
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In 2021, HCA formed the Reentry Advisory Workgroup, which plays a crucial role in our state’s reentry work. This workgroup—and the four subcommittees they oversee—are working on:
- Improving communication with managed care organizations (MCOs) for when an enrollee is incarcerated.
- Exploring a real-time data-sharing solution to provide booking and release notifications.
- Transmitting health records (which is especially important for jails), using HCA’s Clinical Data Repository.
In past work, the Reentry Advisory Workgroup added jail locations to a file that informs MCOs of an enrollee’s incarceration location. In partnership with MCOs, they also identified a solution that provides pharmacies same-day access upon an individual’s release.
- This way, a pharmacy can fill a person’s prescription the same day as their release, which is essential for medications and treatments for SUD and other behavioral health conditions.
Read the 2023 Reentry Community Services Workgroup legislative report.
Contact
Email: HCA Reentry Initiative