Evaluation of the Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP): Interim Report

Publication Year: 2014
Patient Need Addressed: Behavioral health, Long-term services and supports
Population Focus: Complex care, Medicaid beneficiaries, Vulnerable/disadvantaged
Demographic Group: Adult, Child, Women
Intervention Type: Service redesign
Type of Literature: Grey
Abstract

The goal of the Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP) is to improve the health and healthcare of Medicaid beneficiaries and to reduce costs by supporting states’ ongoing payment and delivery system reforms through targeted technical support. The Medicaid IAP represents CMS’s unique commitment to support state Medicaid agency efforts toward system-wide payment reform and delivery system innovation. The IAP will focus on populations with significant needs served by Medicaid programs: pregnant women and newborns, children, individuals with mental illness, individuals receiving long-term services and supports, and others.

Insights Results

Overview of report

  • The Innovator Accelerator Program (IAP) participants received targeted support primarily through individual coaching or group webinars, depending on the IAP area. Overall, participants reported positive experiences, and rated the quality of targeted support highly
  • IAP participant engagement in most targeted support modes was high, indicating that the support was seen as appropriate, convenient, and minimally burdensome. Less intensive engagement, when it did occur, was largely a function of participants’ competing demands
  • In general, IAP program area tracks that included one-on-one coaching as one mode of targeted support had more concrete results to share than did tracks that received only virtual, group support. However, enough time has not yet elapsed to fully assess state Medicaid reform outcomes
  • Across the IAP program areas, state participants indicated that being involved in the IAP helped to raise their state’s awareness of ongoing Medicaid reforms, and they had begun to implement some of the lessons learned through the IAP to further their intended health systems reforms
    Future Considerations
  • Findings suggest that this blend of group learning and individual support modes is appropriate. While state participants appreciate group learning as a means to learn new information and share ideas, they also want an opportunity for tailored discussion about how the information they have received relates to their own, specific circumstances