Helping Improve Access to Care for Medicaid Beneficiaries by Supporting CMS
Aurrera Health supported the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services (CMCS) through a subcontract in the design and modernization of federal rules including the Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services final rule (Access Rule) and the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Managed Care Access, Finance, and Quality final rule (Managed Care Rule). The project had three main components:
Enhancements to federal regulations regarding state Medical Care Advisory Committees (MCACs);
Technical Assistance around opportunities to leverage patient experience data; and
developing policy to improve Medicaid beneficiary access to home and community-based services (HCBS).
Aurrera Health Group team provided strategic advice, policy analysis and recommendations, and drafting of guidance and toolkits designed to help convey CMS’s vision and goals for ensuring access to care for Medicaid and CHIP enrollees across the country. We also provided technical assistance to support CMS in understanding opportunities to leverage patient experience data to better ensure that data are available to measure, monitor, and support improvement efforts for access across dimensions of care, states, delivery systems, and populations in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
In working toward these aims, Aurrera Health researched national surveys that measure beneficiary experience and collect information by state, payor, and delivery system, including the domains captured and populations surveyed through these tools. Finally, we researched state best practices to support direct care worker wages and address workforce shortages. The team reviewed literature, including state regulations, legislation, and hearing records, to identify state activities supporting the recruitment and retention of direct care workers through HCBS wage pass-through laws. Through this process we assisted CMS in assessing the feasibility of different regulatory proposals.
Project Team
