Medicaid is a cornerstone of the health care system of New York State, providing coverage to over five million residents and accounting for $54 billion in annual health care spending.

Medicaid provides a broad range of health care services to a diverse group of New Yorkers. Its main roles include providing health insurance to low-income families, covering disabled individuals who have access to no other health care services, supplementing Medicare for the low-income elderly and disabled individuals, and providing subsidies directly to health care providers.

The Medicaid Institute™ at United Hospital Fund aims to be a force for positive change leading to the redesign, restructuring, and rebuilding of New York State's Medicaid program.

Medicaid Managed Care for Children in Foster Care

New York State is continuing to move high-cost Medicaid populations out of fee-for-service arrangements and into care management, to improve quality and lower costs. This report examines one such group of high-need Medicaid beneficiaries: children in foster care.

Implementing Medicaid Health Homes in New York: Early Experience

New York State’s health home initiative is an ambitious program that seeks to establish a care management and coordination vehicle for Medicaid enrollees with chronic conditions. This report details the early stages of implementing the initiative.

Integrating and Improving Care for Dual Medicare-Medicaid Enrollees: New York’s Proposed Fully Integrated Duals Advantage (FIDA) Program

This report focuses on a proposed New York State program to better manage care of  beneficiaries who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, commonly referred to as “duals.”

Financing Long-Term Care: New York's Limited Options and Medicaid's Vast Challenge

An examination of how long-term care is financed nationally and in New York, with an analysis of the state’s private long-term care insurance market, opportunities presented by alternative financial products, and the pivotal role of default payer played by Medicaid.

Implementing Long-Term Care Reform in New York's Medicaid Program

With the new State policy shifting the Medicaid behavioral health benefit into a new care management framework, this report explains and considers potential strategies and options for improving the management of long-term care services for elderly and disabled Medicaid beneficiaries, and addresses the issues of balancing residential and community-based long-term care, refining reimbursement for long-term care services, and providing effective care management.

Implementing Behavioral Health Care Reform in New York's Medicaid Program

One of two jointly released Medicaid Institute reports examining implementation of Medicaid policy changes in New York, this report explains the roles and responsibilities of newly authorized regional behavioral health organizations; discusses the long-term challenges of integrating behavioral and physical health care delivery; and considers how the State might measure effectiveness of care.

Measuring Quality for Complex Medicaid Beneficiaries in New York     

Quality measurement for Medicaid beneficiaries with complex needs—specifically those with multiple chronic conditions, behavioral health conditions, and long-term care needs—is important as a means of improving care and as a tool to advance the state’s strategies of reimbursement reform and service delivery redesign for vulnerable and high-cost populations, according to this new report.

Medicaid Prescription Drugs: Purchasing and Management  

This report explores the technical and policy decisions states can make when purchasing and managing prescription drugs in today’s Medicaid environment. It identifies best practices from around the nation and examines New York’s Medicaid prescription drug program in particular.

Medicaid in New York: The Road Ahead

This presentation by Michael Birnbaum discusses current enrollment and spending associated with New York's Medicaid program and lays out the challenges ahead.

Providing Care to Medicaid Beneficiaries with Behavioral Health Conditions: Challenges for New York

"Revisioning" Medicaid as Part of New York's Coverage Continuum

Medicaid Long-Term Care in New York: Variation by Region and County

Medicaid Personal Care in New York City: Service Use and Spending Patterns

Medicaid in New York: Current Roles, Recent Experience, and Implications of Federal Reform

This report lays out the challenges and opportunities facing New York’s Medicaid program, against a backdrop of a historic federal health care reform law and an unprecedented state budget deficit.