MACPAC Votes, Discusses Financing, Supplemental Payments, and Medicaid Unwinding

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) met on April 11 and 12. The commission unanimously voted to approve its recommendations to improve the transparency of Medicaid and CHIP financing. These recommendations ask Congress to amend the Social Security Act to require states to submit an annual report on Medicaid and CHIP financing methods used to finance the nonfederal share, which would include a description of the methods used to finance the nonfederal share, a state-level summary of the amounts of Medicaid and CHIP spending derived from each source of nonfederal share, and a provider-level database of the cost of financing the nonfederal share of Medicaid and CHIP. The commission also approved recommendations on optimizing state Medicaid agency contracts by requiring that Medicare Advantage dual-eligible special needs plans (D-SNPs) regularly submit data on care coordination and Medicare Advantage encounter data and that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services update guidance to states to better integrate care.  

MACPAC also reviewed an analysis of non-DSH supplemental payments and supplemental payment policies. The commission plans to develop a compendium of supplemental payment methods, explore potentially developing a payment index to assess total base and supplemental payments across states, and update MACPAC’s issue brief on managed care directed payment spending. Lastly, the commission ended this month’s session with a panel discussion comprised of experts from the Urban Institute, the Princeton Center for Health and Wellbeing, and the KFF to share lessons learned from the Medicaid Unwinding.