This week, our In Focus section reviews recent Medicaid enrollment trends in capitated, risk-based managed care in 33 states.[1] Many state Medicaid agencies post monthly enrollment figures by health plan for their Medicaid managed care population to their websites. This data allows for the timeliest analysis of enrollment trends across states and managed care organizations. All 33 states highlighted in this review have released monthly Medicaid managed care enrollment data into the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020. This report reflects the most recent data posted. HMA has made the following observations related to the enrollment data shown on Table 1 (below):
1825 Results found.
New Report Supports State Medicaid Programs to Advance Health Justice
Rates of illness and death due to the COVID-19 pandemic have disproportionally impacted Americans who are Black, African American, Latinx, Native American, Asian, and other people of color as well as people with disabilities and those subsisting on poverty-level income. In response to this, AcademyHealth, in partnership with the Disability Policy Consortium (DPC), a Massachusetts-based cross-disability advocacy and action research organization, released a new report: Advancing Health Justice Using Medicaid Data: Key Lessons from Minnesota for the Nation. This report provides information on the importance of investing in data analysis to advance health justice in Medicaid populations. It further highlights the importance of partnering with communities most impacted by injustices that cause inequities in health outcomes.
CMS Releases New Tools
Two new tools have been released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to help states and territories plan to transition back to regular operations after the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends.
MACPAC Report Examines Medicaid Services for ID/DD Populations
In a report to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC), HMA consultants Sarah Barth, Sharon Lewis and former research assistant Taylor Simmons, provided insight and review of Medicaid services for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (ID/DD).
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Innovation Center’s Geographic Direct Contracting Model Opportunity
This week, our In Focus section reviews a new model – Geographic Direct Contracting – introduced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center. The model will test whether a geographic-based approach to care delivery and value-based care can improve health and reduce costs for Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in the traditional fee-for-service program across an entire region. This model represents one of the most transformational models released by the Innovation Center. During the 6-year Geographic Direct Contracting model performance period the traditional Medicare program will be replaced by the Direct Contracting program in the 10 selected regions.
Commonwealth Fund Blog Post Highlights Medicare Changes Related to COVID-19
Jennifer Podulka penned a blog post for The Commonwealth Fund in conjunction with The SCAN Foundation, highlighting the legislative and regulatory changes made to Medicare in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was part of the HMA team who authored an Issue Brief and policy tracker earlier this year.
The Future of Quality Reporting: Understanding Digital Quality Measurement Practices
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for greater health information technology interoperability, “digital” measures of healthcare quality and performance, and advanced value-based care systems has grown. In January 2021, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) publicly released its vision for healthcare quality measurement to the Biden-Harris Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) transition team. The paper, “The Future of Healthcare Quality,” focuses on four core areas, with three of them being specific to the evolution of a digital quality ecosystem: