Specific topics to be reviewed

Specifically, MACPAC shall review and assess the following:

(A) Medicaid and CHIP payment policies Payment policies under Medicaid and CHIP, including— (i) the factors affecting expenditures for the efficient provision of items and services in different sectors, including the process for updating payments to medical, dental, and health professionals, hospitals, residential and long-term care providers, providers of home and community based services, Federally-qualified health centers and rural health clinics, managed care entities, and providers of other covered items and services; (ii) payment methodologies; and (iii) the relationship of such factors and methodologies to access and quality of care for Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries (including how such factors and methodologies enable such beneficiaries to obtain the services for which they are eligible, affect provider supply, and affect providers that serve a disproportionate share of low-income and other vulnerable populations).

(B) Eligibility policies Medicaid and CHIP eligibility policies, including a determination of the degree to which Federal and State policies provide health care coverage to needy populations.

(C) Enrollment and retention processes Medicaid and CHIP enrollment and retention processes, including a determination of the degree to which Federal and State policies encourage the enrollment of individuals who are eligible for such programs and screen out individuals who are ineligible, while minimizing the share of program expenses devoted to such processes.

(D) Coverage policies Medicaid and CHIP benefit and coverage policies, including a determination of the degree to which Federal and State policies provide access to the services enrollees require to improve and maintain their health and functional status.

(E) Quality of care Medicaid and CHIP policies as they relate to the quality of care provided under those programs, including a determination of the degree to which Federal and State policies achieve their stated goals and interact with similar goals established by other purchasers of health care services.

(F) Interaction of Medicaid and CHIP payment policies with health care delivery generally The effect of Medicaid and CHIP payment policies on access to items and services for children and other Medicaid and CHIP populations other than under this subchapter or subchapter XXI and the implications of changes in health care delivery in the United States and in the general market for health care items and services on Medicaid and CHIP.

(G) Interactions with Medicare and Medicaid Consistent with paragraph (11), the interaction of policies under Medicaid and the Medicare program under subchapter XVIII, including with respect to how such interactions affect access to services, payments, and dual eligible individuals.

(H) Other access policies The effect of other Medicaid and CHIP policies on access to covered items and services, including policies relating to transportation and language barriers and preventive, acute, and long-term services and supports.