Quality of Care

Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) seek to provide safe, effective, efficient, patient-centered, high quality and equitable care to all enrollees.  To achieve these goals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) partners with states to share best practices and to provide technical assistance to improve the quality of care.  

Quality Initiatives

CMS has initiatives to improve the quality of care provided to Medicaid and CHIP enrollees in the following areas:

National Quality Strategy

The National Quality Strategy, required by The Affordable Care Act of 2010, is a national plan to improve the delivery of health care services, patient health outcomes, and population health.

Three goals are used to guide and assess local, state, and national efforts to improve health and the health care delivery system:

1. Better Care
2. Healthy People/Healthy Communities
3. Affordable Care

See the National Quality Strategy March 2011 Report to Congress.   

Events & Announcements

Promoting Prevention in Medicaid and CHIP

This technical assistance series is part of a new and expanding initiative to support state efforts to improve beneficiary access to high-quality preventive health services. The sessions will feature a variety of speakers and will spotlight the activities of several state Medicaid programs and their collaborations with managed care organizations, public health departments, federal prevention programs, and other stakeholders to improve access to preventive care.

Linking state Medicaid programs with other federal prevention efforts
May 7, 1:00-2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
877-267-1577; Meeting ID: 6521, https://webinar.cms.hhs.gov/ppmc1/                             
                                                                                                                                             
Working with Managed Care Organizations to promote prevention
May 21, 3:00-4:00 p.m. (Eastern)
877-267-1577; Meeting ID: 8494, https://webinar.cms.hhs.gov/ppmc2/

Using health IT to improve access to preventive services
May 30, 2:00-3:00 p.m. (Eastern)
877-267-1577; Meeting ID: 0374, https://webinar.cms.hhs.gov/ppmc3/

Building partnerships and financing prevention in Medicaid and CHIP (in partnership with ASTHO)
June 13, 2:00-3:00 p.m. (Eastern)
877-267-1577; Meeting ID: 2168, https://webinar.cms.hhs.gov/ppmc4/

We encourage state Medicaid leaders, staff and their partners to participate in the full series. Additional opportunities for enhanced technical assistance, collaboration, and knowledge exchange to support efforts to improve access to and quality of preventive services will be announced during the series.

Questions regarding Medicaid and CHIP prevention efforts can be directed to: MedicaidCHIPPrevention@cms.hhs.gov.     

Quality Improvement 101 Webinar Series

The Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services sponsored a series of three Quality Improvement (QI) webinars designed to help state representatives build their capacity to develop and apply QI strategies in their Medicaid and CHIP programs. 

• The slides for Webinar 1: Getting Started can be viewed here.  The audio file can be found here.
• The slides for Webinar 2: Developing Aims and Selecting Change Strategies can be viewed here.  The audio file can be found here.
•  The slides for Webinar 3: Measuring and Monitoring Improvement can be viewed here.  The audio file can be found here.

New Releases

2012 Annual Report on the Quality of Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP

• Executive Summary: 2012 Annual Report on the Quality of Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP
• Appendices: 2012 Annual Report on the Quality of Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP