20
Medicaid Makeover Six Tough (and Unavoidable) Choices on the Road to Reform NASACT August 2006

Medicaid Makeover Six Tough (and Unavoidable) Choices on the Road to Reform NASACT August 2006

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Medicaid MakeoverSix Tough (and Unavoidable) Choices on the Road to Reform

NASACT

August 2006

2 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

The Case for Focusing on Medicaid

• It’s sheer size and growth:

– 20% or more of most state budgets, and growing at super-inflationary rates

• Often the most audited program in state government

– Frequently with significant audit findings

• Typically generates most of the payments made by a state government (in states that process their own claims)

• By most accounts, the most complicated and challenging program to run in all of government

– Multiple, diverse stakeholders

– Multiple, diverse beneficiaries

– Federal and state governance requirements

– Significant use of external contractors

No-Brainer

^

3 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

It’s the 800-Pound Gorilla

4 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

State Medicaid Programs and the Fortune 500

…and 17 additional

states would appear in the

top 500.

5 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

The Current Medicaid Landscape• Medicaid and healthcare are the fastest-growing budget items for states

– Federal matching funds give states incentives to expand their programs

• Recent federal legislation (the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act) gives states much-needed flexibility to redesign their programs– Kentucky, West Virginia, Idaho (and others?) are taking advantage of this

flexibility– Many other states (South Carolina, Florida, Massachusetts, Vermont, California,

and others) are implementing other major reforms

6 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

The Many Plagues of Medicaid• Rising Program Costs• Program Complexity

- Each state maintains its own eligibility requirements, benefits, etc.- Structural overhead of two levels of government oversight (federal and state)

- Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen- Legislators, providers, program directors, etc. are all interested stakeholders

who seek involvement in potential program change• Aging Technology

- Upgrading MMIS Systems is both expensive and risky• Medicaid 24 x 7

- Beneficiaries are becoming more computer savvy and will soon expect the same convenience available in other areas (e.g. banking, shopping, etc.)

• Ripple Effect of a Boulder in a Swimming Pool- Because many other state programs receive their funding in large part from

Medicaid, acting in many ways like private providers of services, those programs, and the state budgets that supplement them, suffer whenever Medicaid suffers.

7 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

Six Tough Choices States Must Confront

1. What Should We Be Doing – and Not Doing?

2. Make or Buy?

3. Traditional or Expansive Benefits?

4. Which Levers to Pull to Restrain Costs?

5. Passive or Active Role in Influencing Health Care Costs?

6. Consumer Engagement in Reform?

8 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

1. What Should We Be Doing – and Not Doing?

• What should be the core functions of our state’s Medicaid program?

– Claims processing

– Policy-setting

– Financial stewardship

– Contract management

• “What kind of program do we really want to be?”

• Florida example:

– Florida is rethinking its role in Medicaid, moving from claims processor to a policy and contract management role

– Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s new Medicaid Initiative, Empowered Care, would allow health care networks to develop their own health care plans to compete for Medicaid patients

– Each provider network would receive a set premium every month for each Medicaid beneficiary covered, with the amount varying to reflect each beneficiary’s individual risk, thereby shifting the burden of cost control and fraud reduction to participating networks

9 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

2. Make or Buy?• Will our state directly manage the services in our program or will we contract for them?

Which services will we contract for?

• States should take a strategic view and ask whether some functions can be better performed by partnering with private organizations

• Texas example:

– Texas outsources most of the operations of its Medicaid program, including claims processing, Medicaid Management Information Systems (MMIS) administration, provider and client relations, third-party liability and recovery, drug program management, client enrollment, client outreach and education, and (soon) even eligibility determination

• Wisconsin example:

– Wisconsin current uses EDS as its MMIS operator, claims processor, and fiscal agent, and the state is looking to expand the role of HMO’s

• The predominant majority of states use private sector companies to, at a minimum, maintain the state’s MMIS system, and most also use vendors to perform other functions

10 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

3. Traditional or Expansive Benefits?

• Where does our state want to be on the continuum between “traditional” Medicaid benefits and coverage and free health care for all low-income residents

• Tennessee example:

– In 1994, TennCare was heralded as a national model for its unprecedented generosity and broad reach; its benefits even exceeded those of many private health plans

– Unfortunately, TennCare was massively overburdened and soon had to revert to a more traditional Medicaid model

• Massachusetts example:

– Governor Mitt Romney is undertaking a comprehensive health reform package that aims for universal coverage within Massachusetts

– The uninsured who have incomes well above the poverty line will pay pre-tax premiums while those with incomes below the poverty line will gain insurance that functions more like traditional Medicaid programs

11 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

4. Which Levers to Pull to Restrain Costs?• Which cost savings and policy levers will our state use to reduce, or at a

minimum contain, the costs of our program?

• Potential cost levers to pull include:

– Choosing the most cost-optimal program structure

– Managing the optional populations served by the program

– Managing the optional benefits provided by the program

– Structuring reimbursement rates to provide cost-savings incentives and control provider costs

– Identifying and implementing administrative and technological efficiencies

– Implementing consumer choice and related mechanisms to secure quality and reduce unnecessary utilization of care

*See graph on next slide for more detailed Medicaid expenditure growth information.

12 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

Medicaid Spending Growth vs. National Averages

13 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

5. Passive or Active Role in Influencing Health Care Costs?

• Will our state move past simple program administration and use our Medicaid program to actively control the costs and quality of health care in our state?

• States must decide whether to invest in innovative arrangements (such as pooled purchasing deals) and more advanced contracting models to more systematically manage health care costs and outcomes

• Georgia example:

– Realizing that prescription drug costs were quickly rising across state health plans, Georgia established the Department of Community Health to oversee health benefits for state employee health plans, Medicaid, the State Children’s health Insurance Program, and the Board of Regents

– Multi-agency purchasing has enabled the state-contracted pharmacy benefit manager to negotiate deeper discounts and has generated significant savings

14 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

6. Consumer Engagement in Reform?• To what degree will our state’s Medicaid recipients share the state’s burden of

cost reduction and quality enhancement?

• States are experimenting with consumer-driven models of insurance and care management where more financial and decision-making responsibility is placed with consumers

• South Carolina example:

– South Carolina’s new Medicaid choice initiative aims to sensitize beneficiaries to the cost of their health care and remove the economic incentive for patients to overuse services by establishing personal health accounts for most of South Carolina’s 850,000 Medicaid recipients.

15 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

Medicaid Makeover Framework

The following framework forms the foundation of The Medicaid Makeover:

Medicaid Excellence

MedicaidAdministrative

Excellence

MedicaidTechnologyExcellence

MedicaidOutcomesExcellence

How well are state resources deployed and how well is the program operated?

Are we maximizing health outcomes while minimizing

client service costs?

How well does our enabling technology support program goals?

Program Goals and PerformanceFinancial

StewardshipAccountability

to StakeholdersQuality

Health CareAccess to Care

Direct Service Efficiency

16 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

Medicaid Makeover Framework, cont.The following checklists are a key component of the framework:

Administrative Excellence Technology Excellence Outcomes Excellence

Are we effectively evaluating program performance?

Are we efficiently using all of our IT resources?

Are our clients receiving quality health care?

Does our program’s performance measure up to industry best practices?

Are our systems enabling the timely and accurate delivery of services to stakeholders?

Are prevention messages and services available and utilized?

Are our operations aligned with our program strategy?

Can we comply with changing federal reporting requirements and technical standards?

Is client health improving as a result of being a part of a Medicaid program?

What business processes do we manage, and how well do we manage them?

Are we using new technologies to reduce the net cost of our program?

Are our clients and providers satisfied with the service they receive?

Is our program structured in the most effective and efficient manner possible?

Are our systems providing the management reporting needed to inform decision-making?

Are we saving money on initiatives that we hoped we would save?

Do our staff resources, skill sets, and organization support our program strategy?

Do we financially manage the program according to proven business principles?

17 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

Next Generation MedicaidCurrent and upcoming changes in the Medicaid arena (including potential federal restructuring, dramatic demographic shifts, rising health costs, etc.) necessitate a need to re-think management of the program.

The following principles will help state programs thrive into the next generation:• Operate Medicaid less like a traditional government bureaucracy and more according to proven business principles

– Long regarded as just one in a family of health and human services programs, Medicaid can no longer be managed in a typical bureaucratic fashion

• Focus on the core competencies required to run a modern Medicaid program– This step entails securing and fostering staff with skills in project management, contract management, and financial management

• Reassess and redirect resources to their best use– States should continuously reevaluate and deploy human and financial resources

• Arm managers with the information they need– Use state-of-the-art systems to cull information (not just data) from the program to support difficult policy decisions

• Rigorously measure performance and hold programs accountable– Clear performance expectations are critical to program success, but they require dedicated effort to develop and even more effort to continuously evaluate

18 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

How Deloitte Works with States to Improve Medicaid

Our current and recent Medicaid clients include:

Maine Texas South Carolina Ohio

Pennsylvania Wisconsin Massachusetts Colorado

Illinois Michigan North Dakota

Deloitte works with state Medicaid programs in the following areas:

– Strategic program direction-setting

– Cost savings identification and capture

– MMIS procurement planning

– MMIS implementation support (project management, IV&V, and QA)

– Actuarial analysis and rate-setting

– Operations improvement and organizational transformation

– Medical management policies and programs to improve care and reduce costs

– Eligibility systems and services

19 Medicaid Makeover - NASACT ©2006 Deloitte Consulting LLP

For More Information…Matt Kouri

Senior Manager, Deloitte [email protected]

512-226-4254

Drew BeckleyPrincipal, Deloitte Consulting

[email protected]

Or Visit:marketplace.deloitte.com, select Industries, then Public Sector Home

Member ofDeloitte Touche Tohmatsu

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, its member firms, and their respective subsidiaries and affiliates. As a Swiss Verein (association), neither Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu nor any of its member firms has any liability for each other’s acts or omissions. Each of the member firms is a separate and independent legal entity operating under the names "Deloitte," "Deloitte & Touche," "Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu," or other related names. Services are provided by the member firms or their subsidiaries or affiliates and not by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Verein.

Copyright ©2006 by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. All rights reserved.