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The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission today approved calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to increase transparency and oversight of directed payments in Medicaid managed care, which the commission will include in its June report to Congress. The recommendations focus on making existing approval documents publicly available, clarifying the goals of directed payments, providing additional guidance for multi-year assessments of directed payments, and better coordinating reviews of directed payments and managed care rates. 

AHA provided oral comments at the public meeting, emphasizing the importance of Medicaid supplemental payments given the $25 billion Medicaid shortfall in 2020, according to AHA data; and urging policymakers to further explore the complex ways states are using directed payments to support policy and program goals before considering additional regulatory changes. 

The commission also approved recommendations to improve access to vaccines for adult Medicaid beneficiaries; create a new access monitoring approach for Medicaid; and encourage adoption of health information technology in behavioral health. In addition, the commission reviewed its mandated report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on Medicaid managed care coverage for beneficiaries receiving services in Institutions for Mental Diseases.