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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 22, 2016
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Jeff Van Ness, (202) 204-7515

STATEMENT OF ACAP CEO MARGARET A. MURRAY ON H.R. 5542, THE MEDICAID AND CHIP QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2016

WASHINGTON—Margaret A. Murray, CEO of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP), issued the following statement on H.R. 5542, The Medicaid and CHIP Quality Improvement Act of 2016, introduced recently by Representatives Diana DeGette of Colorado and Joseph P. Kennedy III of Massachusetts:

“While more than 80 million people receive health coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Plan, it is difficult to get a clear picture of the quality of care delivered through these programs. Safety Net Health Plans strongly support Representative DeGette’s bill, which would set forth a nationwide system of quality measurement, reporting, and improvement across all Medicaid program delivery systems: managed care, fee-for-service, and primary care case management.

“This would extend a culture of transparency and accountability to all sectors of Medicaid and CHIP. Fee-for-service arrangements in particular have not been subject to the sorts of comprehensive, systematic quality reporting requirements with which health plans have complied for years.

“There’s an old saying about Medicaid: ‘If you’ve seen one Medicaid program, you’ve seen one Medicaid program.’ This stems from the fact that Medicaid and CHIP are programs that truly represent the idea of federalism – better visibility into quality of care across all 50 states will give us insight into what works well, and what needs work.

“This bill would also reward quality improvement among states by providing bonuses to not just the five highest-performing states, but also the five that demonstrate the greatest improvement. More importantly, it creates mechanisms that help Federal and state taxpayers understand what they are getting for the trillions of dollars they invest in this program, and improve the value of Medicaid and CHIP program through quality improvement programs.

“We applaud Representatives DeGette and Kennedy for their leadership today, and urge their bipartisan colleagues in the House to cosponsor this important bill.”

About ACAP
ACAP represents 56 not-for-profit Safety Net Health Plans in 26 states, which collectively serve more than fifteen million people enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, Marketplaces, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and other health programs. For more information, visit www.communityplans.net.

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