State Medicaid agencies are increasingly involving members in the design and delivery of care. Community advisory councils and committees are critical for gathering input and understanding the member experience, ensuring that policies and services are responsive, effective, and equitable.
MassHealth, Massachusetts’ Medicaid program, uses a variety of methods to engage its membership. This report, made possibly by the Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute, a program of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation, explores design and implementation strategies for MassHealth’s Community Advisory Boards (CABs). Informed by an environmental scan and cross-state stakeholder interviews, the report offers recommendations on CAB creation and ongoing management. An earlier report, Strategies for Meaningfully Engaging MassHealth Members to Inform Program and Policy Decisions, made a series of recommendations to strengthen MassHealth’s overall member engagement strategy. Although developed for a Massachusetts context, the report offers lessons for any state seeking to strengthen Medicaid member engagement strategies.