Turning Medicaid Beneficiaries into Purchasers of Health Care: Critical Success Factors for Medicaid Consumer-Directed Health Purchasing

Abstract

Many state policymakers are looking to apply the concepts of consumer-directed care to the Medicaid program, believing that a more engaged and at-risk consumer will use health care services more appropriately. This issue brief examines four critical success factors states should take into account when launching consumer-directed Medicaid reforms such as those proposed in Florida, South Carolina, and West Virginia. An executive summary and update was made to this report in August 2006.