Medicaid Members’ experiences and perspectives can offer important insight, build trust between health care organizations and communities, and ultimately, make care more effective. State-level efforts in community member and family engagement have been steadily growing in recent years.  In 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a rule requiring states to establish or strengthen Beneficiary Advisory Councils (BACs) and Medicaid Advisory Committees (MACs) to ensure that member experience and input are integrated into program and policy decision-making processes.

This guide serves as an at-a-glance checklist reference to assist states in designing and implementing the BACs and MACs required by CMS.