Health Affairs March 3, 2023
High-quality primary care is a critical tool to advance health equity within Medicaid, which includes many enrollees who identify as people of color. This population experiences long-standing health inequities due to factors including structural racism and historic underinvestment in safety-net institutions. To support higher-quality, more equitable primary care, there is growing consensus that payment reform is necessary. Medicaid primary care population-based payment (PBP) models—advanced value-based payment (VBP) approaches that pay provider organizations through upfront, flexible payments tied to quality incentives—offer a key means to improve primary care. At least five state Medicaid programs are actively pursuing such models, and many others are well-positioned to adopt primary care PBP approaches.
Primary care PBP models can be a powerful tool for advancing...