MACPAC

Protections Overlooked as Medicaid Reforms are Implemented

In its eagerness to help states introduce changes in their Medicaid programs and reduce administrative burdens, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is ignoring regulatory requirements designed to understand and measure the impact of those changes on beneficiaries. According to an analysis by the Los Angeles Times, many states seeking to implement Medicaid work requirements have not projected how many of their beneficiaries would be affected by those requirements nor have they projected how many beneficiaries who are removed from the Medicaid rolls will gain employment after losing their Medicaid benefits. Both projections are required under Medicaid regulations adopted [...]

iqtsupport2019-02-15T06:00:51-05:00February 15, 2019|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

Docs Still Less Likely to Treat Medicaid Patients

Medicaid patients continue to be last in line when it comes to finding doctors willing to serve them. At least that’s the conclusion drawn in a new analysis prepared by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission. According to a presentation delivered at a MACPAC meeting last week: Doctors are less likely to accept new Medicaid patients (70.8 percent) than they are patients insured by Medicare (85.3 percent) or private insurers (90 percent), with a much greater differential in acceptance rates among specialists and psychiatrists. Pediatricians, general surgeons, and ob/gyns have a higher acceptance rate of Medicaid patients than [...]

iqtsupport2019-01-29T13:00:57-05:00January 29, 2019|MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission|

MACPAC: Let’s “hit the pause button” on Medicaid Work Requirements

The non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress and the administration on Medicaid issues will ask the administration to delay approving any more state Medicaid work requirements. That was the decision reached by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission when it met last week. MACPAC warned that the work requirement currently being implemented in Arkansas, the first state to introduce such a requirement, is flawed and needs further work before moving forward. The agency also believes the federal government should increase its oversight of new Medicaid work requirements before additional states begin implementing similar, already-approved Medicaid work requirements. [...]

iqtsupport2018-10-30T06:00:17-04:00October 30, 2018|Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met for two days last week in Washington, D.C. The following is MACPAC’s own summary of the sessions. The October 2018 MACPAC meeting covered a range of front-line issues in Medicaid, leading off with an analysis of disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments on Thursday morning. Following the analysis, the Commission discussed options for March recommendations on how to structure DSH allotment reductions that are scheduled to begin in fiscal year 2020. The Commission later resumed the discussion it began in September on work and community engagement requirements, presenting new data from Arkansas [...]

iqtsupport2018-10-29T06:00:58-04:00October 29, 2018|Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met recently in Washington, D.C. to review a number of Medicaid- and CHIP-related issues. MACPAC members heard presentations on and discussed the following issues: Multistate Collaboration: Panel on State Perspectives Themes from Interviews on the Development of Hospital Payment Policies DSH Payments: Policy Changes and Policy Options Operational Considerations for Work and Community Engagement Requirements Medicaid Coverage of New and High Cost Drugs Managed Care Oversight Oversight of UPL Payments: Additional Analyses and Policy Options Mandated Report: Therapeutic Foster Care Find outlines of these subjects and additional materials by clicking the links [...]

iqtsupport2018-09-25T06:00:56-04:00September 25, 2018|MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid managed care, Medicaid regulations|

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission, a non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress, the administration, and the states on Medicaid and CHIP issues, met publicly in Washington, D.C. last week. The following is MACPAC’s own summary of its two days of meetings. The April 2018 meeting began with session on social determinants of health. Panelists Jocelyn Guyer of Manatt Health Solutions, Arlene Ash of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Kevin Moore of UnitedHealthcare Community & State discussed state approaches to financing social interventions through Medicaid. In its second morning session, the Commission reviewed a draft [...]

iqtsupport2018-04-23T06:00:05-04:00April 23, 2018|MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid long-term services and supports, Medicaid managed care, Medicaid regulations|

MACPAC Issues Annual Report, Recommendations to Congress

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission has published its annual report and recommendations to Congress. MACPAC’s report addresses three primary areas: Medicaid managed care, telehealth, and Medicaid disproportionate share payments (Medicaid DSH). With 80 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries now enrolled in managed care plans, MACPAC offers three major recommendations for improving Medicaid managed care efforts: permit states to require all of their Medicaid beneficiaries to enroll in a managed care plan extend Medicaid managed care section 1915(b) waivers from two to five years permit states to obtain waivers to waive freedom of choice and selective contracting restrictions MACPAC [...]

iqtsupport2018-03-20T06:00:31-04:00March 20, 2018|Medicaid, Medicaid managed care|

MACPAC Meets

Members of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met in Washington, D.C. last week to discuss a number of Medicaid and CHIP meetings. The following is MACPAC’s summary of this meeting. MACPAC’S March 2018 meeting began with a review of two draft chapters with recommendations that will be included in MACPAC’s June 2018 report, the first to improve operation of the Medicaid drug rebate program and the second to improve the clarity of substance use disorder (SUD) confidentiality regulations. At the opening session the Commission reviewed a draft chapter on Medicaid drug policy and later voted to approve [...]

iqtsupport2018-03-08T06:00:35-05:00March 8, 2018|MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid long-term services and supports, Medicaid regulations for the disabled|

MACPAC Meets

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission met last week in Washington, D.C. to discuss a variety of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program issues. MACPAC, the non-partisan legislative branch agency that performs policy and data analysis and makes recommendations to Congress, the administration, and the states, addressed a number of issues during the meeting. Among them it discussed Medicaid managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) and voted to recommend that states be given the opportunity to seek permission to make Medicaid beneficiary enrollment in managed care plans mandatory through revisions of their state plan amendment rather than by [...]

iqtsupport2018-01-30T06:00:58-05:00January 30, 2018|MACPAC, Medicaid, Medicaid long-term services and supports, Medicaid managed care|

MACPAC Meets

The non-partisan legislative branch agency that advises Congress, the administration, and the states on Medicaid and CHIP-related issues met recently in Washington, D.C. The following is the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission’s own summary of its meeting. The December 2017 meeting of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission began with a brief update on the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Although federal funding for the CHIP expired at the end of September, legislation to renew funding was still pending in Congress. The Commission then heard from a panel discussing state tools to manage drug utilization [...]

iqtsupport2017-12-20T06:00:38-05:00December 20, 2017|Medicaid|