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Medicaid Managed Care Organization Learning Hub

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Working with insurance plans, providers, and patient advocates to improve Medicaid outcomes
  • Client
    MolinaCares Accord
  • Dates
    2019 – 2022

Problem

State Medicaid leaders, community partners, and managed care organizations require current, trustworthy information in our shifting health care landscape 

Because of their circumstances, people insured through Medicaid tend to experience poorer health outcomes than other Americans. Medicaid managed care organizations (MCOs), which most states rely on to manage Medicaid health plans, may be earnest in their efforts to provide top-quality care. But patients’ well-being can be impaired by factors outside the purview of medical professionals, such as food insecurity, homelessness, and behavioral health disorders. 

Solution

NORC offered reliable and timely resources and strategies to MCOs on how to support Medicaid populations. 

NORC and its partner, Speire Healthcare Strategies, LLC, teamed with America's Health Insurance Plans and the Association for Community Affiliated Plans and Community Catalyst and Families. Together, we hosted a series of wide-ranging discussions with MCOs and advocates on how MCOs could collaborate with community-based organizations to improve the overall health of Medicaid enrollees. In these roundtables, we identified barriers that separated these would-be allies to produce a series of briefs with findings and recommendations from these discussions. We also research briefs based on literature reviews and spotlights based on discussions with states and other organizations to highlight best practices that could be copied elsewhere.

Result

Managed Care Organizations now have practical guidance to improve Medicaid patient health. 

In addition to presenting policy recommendations to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and our project partners, we published a dozen articles on our NORC Learning Hub highlighting examples of role-model collaborations. Findings highlight takeaways from the three project focus areas—social determinants of health, behavioral health, and member engagement—as well as other timely topic areas. These include MCO's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and investments in affordable housing. With funding from the MolinaCares Accord, we also hosted a six-part webinar series that focused on lessons learned from other innovative approaches to Medicaid managed care nationwide.

Project Leads

“There is substantial opportunity for Medicaid managed care organizations, working with local community-based organizations, to greatly improve the health outcomes of Medicaid enrollees.”

Vice President

“There is substantial opportunity for Medicaid managed care organizations, working with local community-based organizations, to greatly improve the health outcomes of Medicaid enrollees.”

New Managed Care - Webinar Series

Funded by MolinaCares Accord

Building Current and Future Capacity in the Healthcare Workforce

December 2022

Successful Strategies in Behavioral Health Integration

October 2022

How Can States Engage with Health Plan Foundations to Address Health Disparities

July 2022

How States Can Use ARPA Funding to Support HCBS Technology Needs

March 2022

Addressing the Care Fragmentation Crisis for Dually Eligible Individuals

November 2021

Meeting the Behavioral Health Needs of Medicaid Members Post-Pandemic

July 2021

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