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Quality Management Strategies in Medicaid Managed Care: Perspectives From Medicaid, Plans, and Providers.

ABSTRACT: Medicaid managed care allows Medicaid beneficiaries to receive services through contractual relationships between managed care organizations and state Medicaid offices. Medicaid offices monitor quality of care, and many states encourage or require plans to adopt quality management practices. This research examines quality management in Medicaid managed care from the perspectives of Medicaid officials, managed care plan representatives, and providers through 25 qualitative interviews in one Northeastern state. Plan representatives described quality management efforts as robust and discussed strategies targeting providers and beneficiaries. Medicaid officials indicated motivations for plans to be responsible for quality management. Providers were unaware of plan efforts or reported them to be counterproductive since performance data were thought to be inaccurate or limited, and modest incentive programs presented excessive administrative burden. Providers' general skepticism about managed care plans' quality improvement efforts may hinder their effectiveness, cause frustration, and lead to administrative burden that may harm care quality.

SUBMITTER: Gadbois EA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6878133 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Quality Management Strategies in Medicaid Managed Care: Perspectives From Medicaid, Plans, and Providers.

Gadbois Emily A EA Gordon Sarah H SH Shield Renee R RR Vivier Patrick M PM Trivedi Amal N AN

Medical care research and review : MCRR 20190404 1

Medicaid managed care allows Medicaid beneficiaries to receive services through contractual relationships between managed care organizations and state Medicaid offices. Medicaid offices monitor quality of care, and many states encourage or require plans to adopt quality management practices. This research examines quality management in Medicaid managed care from the perspectives of Medicaid officials, managed care plan representatives, and providers through 25 qualitative interviews in one North ...[more]

PMID: 30947600

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Project description:ImportanceState Medicaid programs have increasingly contracted with insurers to provide medical care services for enrollees (Medicaid managed care plans). Insurers that provide these plans can exit Medicaid programs each year, with unclear effects on quality of care and health care experiences.ObjectiveTo determine the frequency and interstate variation of health plan exit from Medicaid managed care and evaluate the relationship between health plan exit and market-level quality.Design, setting, and participantsRetrospective cohort of all comprehensive Medicaid managed care plans (N?=?390) during the interval 2006-2014.ExposuresPlan exit, defined as the withdrawal of a managed care plan from a state's Medicaid program.Main outcomes and measuresEight measures from the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set were used to construct 3 composite indicators of quality (preventive care, chronic disease care management, and maternity care). Four measures from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems were combined into a composite indicator of patient experience, reflecting the proportion of beneficiaries rating experiences as 8 or above on a 0-to-10-point scale. Outcome data were available for 248 plans (68% of plans operating prior to 2014, representing 78% of beneficiaries).ResultsOf the 366 comprehensive Medicaid managed care plans operating prior to 2014, 106 exited Medicaid. These exiting plans enrolled 4?848?310 Medicaid beneficiaries, with a mean of 606?039 beneficiaries affected by plan exits annually. Six states had a mean of greater than 10% of Medicaid managed care recipients enrolled in plans that exited, whereas 10 states experienced no plan exits. Plans that exited from a state's Medicaid market performed significantly worse prior to exiting than those that remained in terms of preventive care (57.5% vs 60.4%; difference, 2.9% [95% CI, 0.3% to 5.5%]), maternity care (69.7% vs 73.6%; difference, 3.8% [95% CI, 1.7% to 6.0%]), and patient experience (73.5% vs 74.8%; difference, 1.3% [95% CI, 0.6% to 1.9%]). There was no significant difference between exiting and nonexiting plans for the quality of chronic disease care management (76.2% vs 77.1%; difference, 1.0% [95% CI, -2.1% to 4.0%]). There was also no significant change in overall market performance before and after the exit of a plan: 0.7-percentage point improvement in preventive care quality (95% CI, -4.9 to 6.3); 0.2-percentage point improvement in chronic disease care management quality (95% CI, -5.8 to 6.2); 0.7-percentage point decrease in maternity care quality (95% CI, -6.4 to 5.0]); and a 0.6-percentage point improvement in patient experience ratings (95% CI, -3.9 to 5.1). Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in exiting plans had access to coverage for a higher-quality plan, with 78% of plans in the same county having higher quality for preventive care, 71.1% for chronic disease management, 65.5% for maternity care, and 80.8% for patient experience.Conclusions and relevanceBetween 2006 and 2014, health plan exit from the US Medicaid program was frequent. Plans that exited generally had lower quality ratings than those that remained, and the exits were not associated with significant overall changes in quality or patient experience in the plans in the Medicaid market.

Project description:Importance:Several recent policy proposals have sought to expand the role of Medicaid in providing health insurance for low-income Americans, but there is little recent information on how physician participation in Medicaid compares with alternative forms of coverage for low-income Americans. Objective:To compare the number of office-based physicians included in Medicaid managed care and health insurance exchange plans that operate in the same geographic markets. Design, Setting, and Participants:This cross-sectional study used administrative data from physician network directories and survey data from office-based physicians for Kansas, Nebraska, New York, Tennessee, and Washington. The number of participants totaled 67?057 office-based physicians in the 5 sample states. Data were collected and analyzed from May 2018 to June 2019. Exposures:Physician participation in a Medicaid managed care or health insurance exchange plan network. Main Outcomes and Measures:The percentage of office-based physicians in a county who indicated during a phone survey that they participated in Medicaid; the percentage of office-based physicians in a county who participated in each Medicaid managed care and health insurance exchange plan network; and the percentage of office-based physicians in a county who participated in at least 1 Medicaid managed care plan or, separately, at least 1 health insurance exchange plan. Results:Of the 67?057 office-based physicians in our sample, 49?983 reported in a telephone survey that they accepted Medicaid. This survey-based measure undercounted the percentage of physicians participating in Medicaid by 5.2% (95% CI, 2.3%-8.1%; P?<?.001) relative to a measure based on physician network directories. Medicaid managed care physician networks covered a median (interquartile range) of 63.4% (48.0%-81.3%) of office-based physicians compared with health insurance exchange physician networks, which covered 51.0% (31.0%-70.5%). In adjusted analyses, Medicaid managed care plans covered 6.2% (95% CI, 3.2%-9.3%, P?<?.001) more office-based physicians than health insurance exchange plans operating in the same counties. In the states where the same insurers participated in both markets (New York, Tennessee, Washington), the Medicaid managed care physician networks were 6.5% (95% CI, 3.2%-9.8%, P?<?.001) larger than the health insurance exchange networks offered by the same insurer. Conclusions and Relevance:In this cross-sectional study of physician network data, Medicaid managed care physician networks included more office-based physicians than the physician networks of health insurance exchange plans operating in the same geographic markets. This suggests that Medicaid remains a viable option for expanding coverage in the United States.

Project description:ContextAn estimated 79 million Americans are infected with human papillomavirus (HPV). Vaccination can reduce the burden of infection and HPV-associated cancers; yet, vaccination rates remain low. Little is known about why some health plans achieve higher vaccination rates.ObjectiveThis study sought to identify strategies used by higher-performing health plans to support HPV vaccination.DesignWe used 2013 data from the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) Human Papillomavirus Vaccine for Female Adolescents measure to identify high-performing plans. The measure examines the percentage of female adolescent plan members who received 3 doses of HPV vaccine by their 13th birthday. High performers were defined as the subset of commercial plans with the top 10 rates and the subset of Medicaid plans with the top 10 rates. An interview guide was developed to assess activities related to providing HPV vaccination. Interviews were conducted with selected plans and audio-recorded. Transcripts were reviewed independently by 2 interviewers and analyzed by hand to identify key themes.ParticipantsStaff members representing 10 plans agreed to be interviewed, representing a diversity of plan size (range, 5500 to >2.7 million members); plan type (about half were commercial, half were Medicaid plans); patient population, from predominantly white to predominantly nonwhite; and geographic region.ResultsPlans Participants highlighted multiple strategies that support HPV vaccination, particularly the "normalizing" of the vaccine. Plans' efforts highlighted patient and provider education, reminders, feedback loops, community collaborations, immunization registries, and use of medical home concepts-including team-driven efforts and coordination.ImplicationsThere is an important need to improve the uptake of HPV vaccination. As health coverage expands to more organizations and individuals, it will be critical for health plans to consider the strategies implemented by higher-performing organizations.ConclusionAlthough HPV immunization rates are low nationally, health plans can employ multiple efforts to encourage vaccination by implementing activities that involve the patient, the provider, and the community.

Dataset Information

Quality Management Strategies in Medicaid Managed Care: Perspectives From Medicaid, Plans, and Providers.

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Quality Management Strategies in Medicaid Managed Care: Perspectives From Medicaid, Plans, and Providers.

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