Medicaid Reform 2009
Translating the principles of reform into concrete practices requires that the State fundamentally redesign the way Medicaid funded services and programs are organized, financed, and delivered. The challenge for the State, thus, is to change both prevailing conceptions and expectations about the Medicaid program as well the way it is structured. Over the years, the State’s Medicaid program has been subjected to a host of incremental changes that have fragmented the way services are organized, financed and delivered. The system that has emerged has become difficult for consumers to navigate and understand and prone to inefficiencies, most of which are related to type of service and care setting. To re-orient the Medicaid program to incorporate the principles of reform and shift the bias away from high cost and institutionally-based forms of care, the State’s health and human services agencies have collaborated to develop a broader view – a view that focuses on the “person” and the full continuum of care options that can and should be available to the beneficiary across the lifecycle. Ensuring every beneficiary has access to the right services in the right settings requires that the State change the way services be purchased. Toward this end, the State is committed to restructuring how it purchases and pays for services, particularly on the long-term care side, to create new and better markets that address beneficiary needs. In sum, Rhode Island’s Medicaid reform proposal provides the framework for providing high quality and cost effective services that builds upon the positive gains made in the program over the last ten years and extends their reach further. Over the next few months we will be providing information on this page that further explains Medicaid Reform 2009.