State Health Insurance Assistance Program Performance Improvement and Innovation Grant

The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) provides grants to states to fund infrastructure, training, and outreach support to over 12,000 (mostly volunteer) counselors in over 1,300 community-based organizations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. In FY 2014, the SHIP program was transferred from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to the Administration for Community Living (ACL). SHIPs provide free, one-on-one counseling and assistance to help aging and disabled Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries as well as coming-of-agers navigate the complexities of health and long-term care systems. Services are provided via telephone and face-to-face interactive sessions, public education presentations and programs, and media activities. With this funding opportunity ACL is seeking applicants for competitive innovation and/or performance improvement grants. Eligible applicants include only current SHIP grantees. ACL anticipates funding multiple 17-month grants capped at 20% of the applicant’s FY 2014 base grant award or $250,000, whichever is lower, to improve SHIP program performance and service quality.