The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has unveiled a “scorecard” through which interested parties will be able to monitor outcomes for state Medicaid programs, state CHIP programs, and CMS itself while also comparing the performance of states to one another.
The purpose of the scorecard, according to CMS, is “to modernize the Medicaid and CHIP program through greater transparency and accountability for the program’s outcomes.”
CMS also explained that
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.
It is not clear at this time how CMS will use the scorecard or what its value might be.
Learn more about the new CMS Medicaid scorecard by reading the complete CMS news release, which can be found here, accompanied by links to further information about the scorecard and a CMS fact sheet.