Proposed Medicaid/CHIP Access Standards Earn Appreciation from Better Health - NOW

The new Medicaid and CHIP access standards earned a note of appreciation from the Primary Care Collaborative and its Better Health – NOW Campaign partners in a July 3rd letter to Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) Director Dan Tsai.  

Responding to the pending Access to Medicaid Services and Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care regulations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Better Health – NOW’s letter focused on addressing Medicaid’s low primary care payment rates, calling that effort “an essential step to supporting innovation in payment and delivery and achieving health equity.”   

The comments supported new, enhanced transparency requirements that would compare state Medicaid payment against Medicare payment, as well as other proposals to strengthen beneficiaries’ voice in state Medicaid program governance and to address health related social needs through In-Lieu-of-Services payments.  

However, Better Health – NOW urged Tsai and the CMCS team to press forward, leveraging levers like the annual Medicaid Scorecard and subregulatory guidance to help states do more to strengthen primary care. 

Better Health – NOW, a Campaign of the Primary Care Collaborative, has identified reducing economic and social barriers through stronger Medicaid and CHIP primary care as a core policy goal.  To learn more about the Campaign, click HERE. 

Read the full comment letter BELOW.