Mt. Rainier, in Washington State, considered a very dangerous volcano whose eruption could kill many thousands of people.
The CMS has granted Washington State preliminary approval to reform its Medicaid program aimed at addressing cost and clinical-care challenges associated with the state’s swelling Medicaid population and moving to value-based care from fee for service. An aim is to move 90 percent of Medicaid payments to a value-based model by 2021.
The five-year waiver program will get $1.5 billion in federal funds.
The program calls for delivery-system reforms and expanding the range of long-term services and supports.
Washington’s Medicaid population has jumped nearly 60 percent since 2013, to 1.7 million, as spending has risen to $10.4 billion a year from $7.8 billion.
Key to the changes is creating so-called Accountable Communities of Health. Each will be charged with crafting delivery-system reforms that consider social conditions that can affect health.
To read a Modern Healthcare article on this, please hit this link.
