The Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Payment and Access Commission, or MACPAC, submitted its June 2012 report to Congress, covering a wide array of topics from Medicaid access to the latest Medicaid and CHIP statistics on spending and enrollment.
Here are four of the central points within the most recent MACPAC report.
1. Access and value issues for Medicaid and CHIP as purchasers. Medicaid and CHIP are among the nation's largest purchasers of healthcare, spending $444 billion in fiscal year 2011 between the two. Because both programs are such large purchasers, they need to improve their performance and accountability to obtain better care and better outcomes, while still maintaining a semblance of economy and efficiency.
2. Data sources for monitoring access to care in Medicaid and CHIP. Federal and state governments must have measures in place to monitor the access of healthcare for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries. In addition, those access metrics should be linked to quality as the government moves away from fee-for-service and toward pay-for-performance.
3. Access to care for non-elderly adults. Drawing on MACPAC's March 2011 report to Congress, the group looked at the access to care and services of non-elderly adults aged 19 to 64 in Medicaid. A survey that controlled for differing health, demographic and socioeconomic factors between non-elderly Medicaid adults and non-elderly adults with employer-based health insurance showed that "those enrolled in Medicaid reported substantially better access to care for almost every measure analyzed," according to the report.
4. MACStats. MACPAC also included its continuing section of MACStats, which updates state-specific statistics and trends on the Medicaid and CHIP populations. Statistics cover health conditions, enrollment and benefit spending, enrollment growth and more.
Here are four of the central points within the most recent MACPAC report.
1. Access and value issues for Medicaid and CHIP as purchasers. Medicaid and CHIP are among the nation's largest purchasers of healthcare, spending $444 billion in fiscal year 2011 between the two. Because both programs are such large purchasers, they need to improve their performance and accountability to obtain better care and better outcomes, while still maintaining a semblance of economy and efficiency.
2. Data sources for monitoring access to care in Medicaid and CHIP. Federal and state governments must have measures in place to monitor the access of healthcare for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries. In addition, those access metrics should be linked to quality as the government moves away from fee-for-service and toward pay-for-performance.
3. Access to care for non-elderly adults. Drawing on MACPAC's March 2011 report to Congress, the group looked at the access to care and services of non-elderly adults aged 19 to 64 in Medicaid. A survey that controlled for differing health, demographic and socioeconomic factors between non-elderly Medicaid adults and non-elderly adults with employer-based health insurance showed that "those enrolled in Medicaid reported substantially better access to care for almost every measure analyzed," according to the report.
4. MACStats. MACPAC also included its continuing section of MACStats, which updates state-specific statistics and trends on the Medicaid and CHIP populations. Statistics cover health conditions, enrollment and benefit spending, enrollment growth and more.
More Articles on MACPAC:
Medicaid, CHIP Costs $444B, Serves 78M People
MACPAC Issues First June Report to Congress
Medicaid Commission to Study Managed Care Plans, Access to Quality Care