Enrollee participation in new integrated Medicare-Medicaid financial alignment initiatives will be voluntary. To achieve the quality improvement and financial goals of integration, as well as maintain program viability, these integrated care initiatives must attract and retain sufficient beneficiary enrollment.

This brief from the Integrated Care Resource Center (ICRC) provides suggestions for designing and implementing integrated care initiatives that: are of high quality; offer attractive benefits and services; and provide easy-to- understand education, outreach, and marketing information. Retaining enrollees in these initiatives requires concerted efforts to ensure consumer access to benefits and maintain channels of communication with enrollees. While the strategies discussed in this brief are aimed primarily at states using capitated integration models, states using managed fee-for-service models can use many of the same education, outreach, marketing, and beneficiary communication strategies.

This technical assistance brief is a product of the Integrated Care Resource Center made possible by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Integrated Care Resource Center is a national initiative to help states improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of care for Medicaid’s high-need, high-cost beneficiaries. The state technical assistance activities provided within the Integrated Care Resource Center are coordinated by Mathematica Policy Research and the Center for Health Care Strategies.