Government Healthcare Policy, Business and Technology

Latest Medicaid managed-care reforms are left to states to carry out

Modern Healthcare: The key word defining the first significant federal changes to Medicaid managed care in 14 years is “flexibility”—for states, that is.The CMS laid the responsibility of ensuring that some of the country's poorest residents receive timely, high-quality care to the 39 states and the District of Columbia that contract with private managed-care plans to provide Medicaid services.But those states will need money, manpower and some detailed direction to implement the provisions of the sweeping Medicaid managed-care rule. And some states are more prepared than others to meet the challenge. That could lead to disparities in the improvements to healthcare quality and access the regulations seek to achieve.

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