Evaluations Of Medicaid Experiments By States, CMS Are Weak, GAO Says

KFF Health News February 23, 2018
Phil Galewitz

With federal spending on Medicaid experiments soaring in recent years, a congressional watchdog said state and federal governments fail to adequately evaluate if the efforts improve care and save money.

A study by the Government Accountability Office released Thursday found some states don’t complete evaluation reports for up to seven years after an experiment begins and often fail to answer vital questions to determine effectiveness. The GAO also slammed the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for failing to make results from Medicaid evaluation reports public in a timely manner.

“CMS is missing an opportunity to inform federal and state policy discussions,” the GAO report said.

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families,...

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