Explaining State Integrated Care/Financial Alignment Demonstrations for Dual Eligibles

Several new resources from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured examine the joint efforts of states and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop more integrated ways of paying for and delivering health care to the 9 million people who are eligible for both the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Dual eligible beneficiaries comprise many of the poorest and sickest people covered by either program, and they account for a disproportionately large share of Medicare and Medicaid spending.

As an outgrowth of the Affordable Care Act, CMS is reviewing proposals from more than two dozen states to test two new models to align Medicare and Medicaid benefits and financing for dual eligible beneficiaries with the goal of delivering better coordinated care and reducing costs. Two new papers provide an overview of these efforts and review the 26 states’ proposals, while a third looks specifically at Massachusetts, the first state to reach a formal agreement with CMS to test one of the new models.

The papers include:

Explaining the State Integrated Care and Financial Alignment Demonstrations for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries
State Demonstrations to Integrate Care and Align Financing for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries: A Review of the 26 Proposals Submitted to CMS
Massachusetts’ Demonstration to Integrate Care and Financing for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries