Capitol Correspondence - 06.11.18

CMS Issues “Medicaid Scorecard”

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As announced by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS):

“[T]he Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the first ever Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Scorecard, a central component of the Administration’s commitment to modernize the Medicaid and CHIP program through greater transparency and accountability for the program’s outcomes. For the first time, CMS published state Medicaid and CHIP quality metrics along with federally reported measures in a Scorecard format.  

[…]

The first version of the Scorecard includes measures voluntarily reported by states, as well as federally reported measures in three areas: state health system performance; state administrative accountability; and federal administrative accountability. The metrics included in the first Scorecard reflect important health issues such as well child visits, mental health conditions, children’s preventive dental services, and other chronic health conditions. The Scorecard represents the first time that CMS is publishing state and federal administrative performance metrics – which include measures like state/federal timeliness of managed care capitation rate reviews, time from submission to approval for Section 1115 demonstrations, and state/federal state plan amendment processing times. The Scorecard falls in line with President Trump’s commitment to “cut the red tape” by aligning existing reporting requirements with these other data sets and incorporating new data over time.

The Scorecard is a key component of Administrator Verma’s new vision for Medicaid and CHIP that was announced during the NAMD conference in November 2017. “Our vision for the future of Medicaid is to reset the federal-state relationship and restore the partnership, while at the same time modernizing the program to deliver better outcomes for the people we serve,” said Administrator Verma. “We need to ensure that we are building a Medicaid program that is sound and sustainable to help all beneficiaries reach their highest potential.”

ANCOR is currently analyzing the Medicaid Scorecard and is seeking feedback from the Government Relations Advisory Committee on its meaning for I/DD supports and services. We will keep members informed on our analysis if there is relevance for I/DD supports and services.