Health care costs continue to rise around the country, and so states are looking for ways to reduce spending while improving health outcomes for their higher cost populations. Many states are moving away from traditional fee-for-service payments in favor of value based payment systems to ensure high-quality and cost-effective health care.
Executive Summary
Health care costs continue to rise around the country, and so states are looking for ways to reduce spending while improving health outcomes for their higher cost populations. Many states are moving away from traditional fee-for-service payments in favor of value based payment systems to ensure high-quality and cost-effective health care. This trend is reflected in the most recent National Governors Association (NGA) Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Survey results, with states responding to the survey largely involved in broad delivery and payment reforms of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or other initiatives to reduce health care costs. Furthermore, states are committed to developing and implementing programs and initiatives aimed at improving health outcomes for MCH populations, including reducing infant mortality, improving birth outcomes, and improving child and adolescent health. Additional survey topics included behavioral health, mental health and substance use disorder treatment for pregnant women.
The 2016 MCH Survey Update presents data that the NGA Center for Best Practices gathered in a survey of states and territories (collectively referred to as “states”). Previous updates have reported on Medicaid and CHIP eligibility and state initiatives to improve quality of care and reduce costs of providing services to MCH populations. The 2016 survey focused on key topics of interest to governors, such as Medicaid and CHIP coverage; infant mortality; and quality, reporting and payment initiatives. Thirty-five states provided information for at least some of the questions, although not all states responded to every question. The number of states that responded to each question is noted in each key finding. The sections that follow summarize the findings from the 2016 MCH Survey
