Unprecedented Opportunity: Improving Collaboration between State Health Agencies and Medicaid through Transformation Grants

Medicaid spending growth has declined in recent years, increasing the need to deliver care more efficiently and effectively. With the goal of improving efficiency, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Systems (CMS) established the Transformation Grant (TG) program. Since January 2007, CMS has awarded a total $150 million to 37 states. Funded projects include health information technology (HIT), quality and health outcomes, and e-prescribing. TGs offer unprecedented opportunity for Medicaid and state public health agencies to work together to improve outcomes for state populations. Successful past Transformation Grants have included methods for reducing patient error rates by implementing electronic health records and facilitating cooperation between SHA and hospitals to improve health outcomes. Speaker Jessica Pollak Kahn, Project Officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Center for Medicaid and State Operations will begin with an overview of the Transformation Grants program and in-depth examples including the Ohio Neonatal Outcomes Improvement Project: a collaboration funded by the TG to improve pregnancy outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries. Session participants will learn how to identify opportunities and mechanisms available to promote collaboration between health departments and state and federal Medicaid agencies to increase accountability, efficiency, and quality within Medicaid programs.