HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell just announced that a new innovative collaboration with states is going to improve care for Medicaid beneficiaries by accelerating efforts to reform their healthcare system. Through the Medicaid Innovation Accelerator Program (IAP), HHS is investing over $100 million in technical support to help states improve health, improve care, and decrease costs for their Medicaid beneficiaries.
The IAP is a collaboration with the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation that will be working closely with the HHS Medicare Medicaid Coordination Office, the Center for Medicare, and other federal centers and agencies.
A joint state federal program, Medicaid is projected to cover about 65 million people in 2014 and has a particularly strong role to play in helping to advance improvements for certain populations and in key segments of our healthcare system. The IAP will focus on populations with significant needs such as care for pregnant women and newborns, children, individuals with mental illness, individuals receiving long-term services.