About Us

The Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) is a nonprofit health policy resource center dedicated to improving the quality and cost effectiveness of health care services for low-income populations and people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. We work directly with states and federal agencies, health plans, and providers to develop innovative programs that better serve people with complex and high-cost health care needs.

To accomplish our goals, CHCS' activities focus on three priorities:

• Advancing health care quality and cost-effectiveness. Medicaid serves more than 55 million Americans and consumes one of every six health care dollars. CHCS works with states and health plans to invest Medicaid's limited dollars wisely to improve health outcomes and drive system-wide improvements in chronic care.

• Reducing racial and ethnic disparities. People in racially and ethnically diverse populations are more likely to face barriers to care and have poor health outcomes. CHCS drives national efforts to reduce these gaps in care and improve quality.

• Integrating care for people with complex and special needs. Adults and children with chronic health care needs and disabilities account for a substantial portion - perhaps up to 80% - of total Medicaid spending. CHCS supports practical and cost-effective solutions to address the unique acute and long-term care needs of Medicaid's highest-risk, highest-cost populations.

Achieving our Mission

CHCS provides training and technical assistance and creates partnerships at the local, state, and national levels. We analyze and establish best practices in chronic care, align financing to reward quality, and strengthen state and health plan capacity to implement quality improvement activities. Our work informs the national health care policy dialogue and helps translate policy into action at the ground level.

The imperative to improve the value of health care services - the Business Case for Quality - underlies all of CHCS' work. By focusing quality improvement efforts on Medicaid's highest-risk, highest-cost populations, states and health plans can improve health outcomes, invest limited public health care dollars more effectively, and ultimately, by controlling costs, free up resources to expand health care coverage for more Americans.