Medicaid agencies are using contracts and procurement processes to require investment and attention to health equity through a variety of opportunities. One way is through accountable care organizations, which can be a powerful mechanism for addressing health equity given their mission to facilitate better coordination and higher quality care across a spectrum of health care providers.
This resource outlines promising state examples of accountable care organizations’ incentives or requirements that can be used to advance health equity. While the resource highlights strategies that can be discretely used to advance equity, Medicaid agencies will be best served by integrating a number of these strategies into a comprehensive health equity plan, ideally conducted in partnership with providers and communities. This resource is a product of Advancing Health Equity: Leading Care, Payment, and Systems Transformation, a national program based at the University of Chicago, operated in partnership with CHCS and the Institute for Medicaid Innovation, and made possible by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.