The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission released its March Medicaid and CHIP report to Congress March 15.
Three things to know:
1. The first chapter of the report provides a congressionally mandated study on the Money Follows the Person program, which gave participating states more funding to support the transition of more than 100,000 Medicaid beneficiaries from institutions back into the community.
2. The second chapter discusses advancing vaccination rates and access for adults enrolled in Medicaid. Medicaid beneficiaries have lower vaccination rates than those with private insurance for most vaccines because of limited coverage. There is a marked difference among pregnant women enrolled in Medicaid and pregnant women with private insurance. The report states that mandated coverage of vaccines is an important first step, but more must be done to improve vaccination rates.
3. The third chapter provides a report on Medicaid disproportionate share hospital allotments to states. Similar to past years, the report found little association between state disproportionate share hospital allotments and the number of uninsured people. It also found little association between state disproportionate share hospital allotments and the amounts and sources of hospitals' uncompensated care costs, and the number of hospitals with high uncompensated care levels that also offer community services for low-income communities.
Download the full report here.