Ultimately, public sector leaders should demonstrate that they can drive change and improve health outcomes by leading innovation, measuring performance, balancing organizational perspectives, and appropriately managing the work.

Public sector leadership requires unique skills in order to effectively navigate the political and bureaucratic state landscapes. Skills necessary to this area of leadership development include increased business acumen; managing resources, change, and decision making as well as stakeholder engagement.

Spurred by the global pandemic, telehealth options have expanded as a way for individuals to access health care safely from their homes. Medicaid programs have been expanding these options as a way to support expanded home-based health services as well.

Medicaid programs employ an array of value-based payment models that focus on driving systems change toward better efficiency and a stronger focus on health outcomes through prioritization of quality of care, rather than quantity.

The conditions in the places where people live, work, learn and play have a clear impact on the health outcomes they experience as they move through life. Medicaid programs approach these realities in different ways.

Quality health care means the intentional integration of needed treatment options. For Medicaid to deliver better health outcomes, mental health and addiction treatment needs to be seamlessly integrated into all the other health care a person receives.

Quality oversight of managed care contractors and providers is critical to Medicaid’s long term success at both efficiently managing financial resources as well as ensuring members receive the right care at the right time in the right setting.

One of the most significant responsibilities Medicaid agencies have when adopting a managed care delivery system is successful procurement and contracting for these services.

Millions of pregnant women, children, and caregivers rely on Medicaid coverage, which provides access to services that ensure healthy child development and strong and stable families. Medicaid also plays a unique role in meeting the complex and unique health care needs of children in the foster care system.