In a recent article for Health Affairs Forefront, Community Health Centers and Medicaid Reform: A Deeper Dive Behind Alternative Payment Reforms, the Geiger Gibson/ RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative examined the history of community health center payment reform and presented evidence from a six-month study, supported by Episcopal Health Foundation, exploring CHC engagement in payment reform and innovation.
Our latest policy brief, Community Health Centers Making the Move to Value-Based Payment, supplements our recent Health Affairs Frontline publication, and provides the in-depth findings from our qualitative study to understand and document community health centers’ experiences with Medicaid alternative payment models (APM) and move to value-based payment (VBP).
Interviews with PCAs and CHCs in twelve case study states revealed that health centers participate in a variety of VBP models. Their engagement is spurred by substantial Medicaid patient volume, the need for more predictable and stable financing, and the desire to move away from an encounter-based care delivery system to models that allow for greater care coordination and team-based care.
We conclude that states can encourage the move to VBP models by recognizing the essential role that health centers play as the backbone of the healthcare safety net, and helping to foster strong relationships between their Medicaid agencies and health centers. Given the strong potential for VBP models to alleviate financial pressures on health centers, allow health center providers to offer more efficient and coordinated care, and transform care delivery for their patients, these efforts merit support.
Please share this new report with your colleagues and networks, and visit the full archive of reports and articles by the Geiger Gibson team here.