HHS offers $100 million in funds for states Medicaid programs to improve payment systems

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is offering the assistance in hopes that states will be able to streamline processes in ways that will ultimately lead to better patient care.

The Hill: HHS Offers States $100M To Improve Medicaid
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is offering $100 million to state Medicaid programs to reform payment systems and improve patient care. Governors and state Medicaid directors had pressed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for funds to review and improve the health program. The federal dollars will help states streamline the payment process and review state Medicaid data to find ways to improve the care patients receive (Al-Faruque, 7/14).

CQ Healtbeat: Officials Push States To Experiment With New Quality Measures, Payment Models
Federal officials announced Monday that they will provide up to $100 million in funding states will be able to tap to improve the quality and efficiency of treatment in Medicaid. States can suggest ways the money could be used to improve care, but CMS brass will contract with outside consultants to do much of the work involved. States can get several types of technical assistance. One is financial modeling to analyze ways of paying doctors and hospitals that save the most money without jeopardizing the quality of care. Officials want to test out ways to care for patients with very high medical costs and minorities whose health outcomes often are not as good as the rest of the population. CMS hopes to apply to a broader swath of the Medicaid population approaches that worked in smaller parts of that population or for people who have other types of coverage. States also could work with CMS and outside consultants to examine data from Medicare and Medicaid to find more efficient ways of delivering care (Adams, 7/14).