More than 13 million people in the U.S. are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, a population that often has significant health and social needs and high related costs. A small, but growing, percentage of this population is enrolled in integrated programs that coordinate Medicare and Medicaid service delivery. To develop and operate an integrated care model, state Medicaid agency staff and their partners must develop knowledge of Medicare’s evolving landscape of policies, regulations, and market activity. However, many state teams often have limited access to Medicare-focused information and training.
The Medicare Academy, led by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) with support from Arnold Ventures, the Commonwealth Fund, and The SCAN Foundation, is a training program designed to help Medicaid and partner agency staff develop new integrated programs or refine existing ones. The training curriculum equips states with practical Medicare knowledge, enabling them to make meaningful changes to their integration policies and processes and develop strategies to sustain Medicare capacity over time. CHCS delivers Academy trainings through two models: (1) virtual, multi-state sessions that connect peers across Medicaid agencies and offer insight into how integrated programs operate across the country; and (2) in-person, single-state trainings designed for broader state teams involved in Medicare-Medicaid integration efforts.
Since 2022, 30 states and U.S. territories have participated in this learning opportunity, with many returning for additional training to deepen internal knowledge and capacity. Current participants include California, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington State, and Wisconsin. Past participants also include Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Puerto Rico, and Tennessee.
Additionally, through the Academy, CHCS produced the Medicare Advantage Policy Basics online training series to broadly support Medicaid and partner agency staff as they build needed Medicare capacity to advance integrated care. Training modules outline foundational Medicare knowledge, explore select policy and program design opportunities, explain the relevance of Medicare Advantage program features for Medicaid agencies, and highlight resources available to states.
