The National Governor Association’s (NGA) www.nga.org Center for Best Practices has released bipartisan ideas in the report “Shared Priorities from the Governors’ Bipartisan Health Reform Learning Network” which summarizes ideas from 13 states on how to improve healthcare.
These ideas represent some of the many ways Governors can shape healthcare in their states. The states include California, Delaware, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
“From Alabama to Wyoming, each state has a unique makeup based on its geography, population, economy, and more,” said NGA Executive Director and CEO Scott Pattison. “That individual perspective extends to healthcare and as a result, not all one size-fits all solutions can be used to improve the U.S. healthcare system. However, there are areas of common interest where states can move forward.”
The priorities contain sections on potential ideas to strengthen the State-Federal partnership, private health insurance priorities, and Medicaid priorities. The section on Medicaid priorities discusses delivery and payment system reform and wants to see the federal government ensure that Medicare is an active partner in state healthcare transformation efforts.
The states also want to see the federal government continue to provide funding for health information technology, behavioral health integration, and also expand access to substance use disorder benefits for Medicaid enrollees through health homes.
Support for the Governors’ Bipartisan Health Reform Learning Network was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation www.rwjf.org and the Commonwealth Fund www.commonwealthfund.org.
To view all of the bipartisan ideas from the 13 states to improve healthcare, go to https://www.nga.org/cms/center/health.